Some changes here at diaTribe and in the world of diabetes and obesity

When we began diaTribe five years ago (in late 2006), our goal was to channel our passion about diabetes into an online publication for patients – to bring you the latest in new products, research, and technology while also capturing the human drama of this disease through essays and profiles. We’re grateful to our readers and proud of what we’ve accomplished, but we’re also determined to make the product better. We’ve begun by redesigning the diaTribe website.

By the time you read this, you may have already explored the new features, like the advanced search function with articles indexed by topic, by drug or device name, by company, date, or issue number, or by section (so you can, for example, see all of Jim Hirsch’s logbooks, Gary Scheiner’s thinking like a pancreas columns, or Kerri Morrone Sparling’s sum musings in one place). The site also has improved readability (a big point of feedback in surveys – thank you!); individually readable and searchable new now nexts; more graphically appealing archives; and a cleaner, more magazine-ish look and feel. Please take time to navigate the new site and let us know what you think via comments@diatribe.org. (We also understand that no website is perfect on the first go-‘round, so if you see any bugs or typos that we may have missed, please let us know!)

We’re confident you’ll find plenty of interest in this issue, as we’ve just returned from the American Diabetes Association’s 2012 Scientific Sessions. Highlights included data on promising new insulins, news on GLP-1 and how established this drug class has become (that had just been launched when diaTribe started), a “science fair” of artificial pancreas prototypes from around the world, and the long-awaited results of the ORIGIN trial on basal insulin and/or fish oil in early-stage type 2 diabetes. (For the lowdown on all these and more, see this month’s conference pearls). Helping us make sense of all the ADA news was a panel of experts at the annual diaTribe/Taking Control of Your Diabetes summit, now in its sixth year. It was once again jam-packed with memorable quotes and keen observations, a small sample of which we captured in new now next and quotable quotes.

In this issue, we also celebrate the approval of Belviq, the new first anti-obesity therapy in over 13 years(!).And in breaking news just before publication, Bristol-Myers Squibb (and partner AstraZeneca) purchased GLP-1 powerhouse Amylin – the maker of Bydureon, Byetta, Symlin, and a once-monthly GLP-1 agonist now in development. We’ll write more in next month's issue about how this deal impacts patients – here’s hoping it speeds the development of new and better therapies and brings GLP-1 in particular to more patients. Notably, Bristol-Myers Squibb first established metformin as the staple therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in the '90s, and we're excited to watch the combined entity further establish the GLP-1 agonist class.

I am grateful to our team – especially Adam Brown, Ben Kozak, and Vincent Wu, who so expertly split the managing editor role month after month – webmaster Spencer Brooks, and contributors Joseph Shivers, Lisa Rotenstein, Lisa Vance, Tanayott Thaweethai, Katrina Verbrugge, and Sam Green (the last four of whom who have been incredible summer associates) – for bringing diaTribe’s new look to life. We hope that you like it.

Yours,