Acquiring to know the people buttocks the diabetes drug company industriousness is a profit we've started seeing to a greater extent of in the past several years, thanks mostly to company involvement with the Diabetes Online Community. Putting a face to the names of those behind the scenes making diabetes devices and products helps US all see that these organizations are made up of real, perfervid multitude sooner than just several "profit-hungry corporate types" we power opine. It's always interesting to meet the players, the "movers and United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing" in the D-Industry shifting around the chessboard.

Uncomparable of those great people is Dr. Andreas Stuhr, who's not only a type 1 himself since childhood, but served as medical examination director for Roche Diabetes Care for more than seven years before moving on to other diabetes companies. From late 2012 until mid-2015 he served as senior medical director for Sanofi's medical affairs diabetes division in the U.S. After that, we went on to Ascensia Diabetes Care (erstwhile Bayer) where he's been headspring of medical affairs globally and North America.

We sat down with him at the ADA Scientific Sessions in 2013 (when he was still with Sanofi), taking some time out of a interfering league schedule to chat for about 30 minutes more or less his own diabetes story, and his excitement about the latest technical school and treatments of the day.

Andreas Stuhr Shares His Diabetes Story

I've known Andreas for a hardly a years immediately, group meeting him for the first time back in 2010 when I attended my first Roche Social Media Summit. Non only is he a brilliant guy working on the medical side of industry, only as a fellow type 1 PWD he has his feet on the ground is great to just loiter and chat with. I've enjoyed visual perception him over the long time on the scene at conferences and events, especially when we've both been able to assist the great Friends For Life history conference in Orlando each summertime.

He and I also contribution another connection that has enchanted me: we some are the kids of a parent with eccentric 1, diagnosed at a really young mature.

Andreas was diagnosed in Germany at age 3, and a generation earlier his dad had been diagnosed at the same young age back in 1940 just as World War II was starting. His dad is now in his 73rd year (while my mom is in her 55th year of living with diabetes), so he has Sir Thomas More than earned the "veteran" designation for getting to this point.

"Talk about a fear of not been able to get a lifetime-saving drug due to the 'environment' you live in," Andreas said. "Add to that the common fright you would expect to see in a infringe partition where there is ever the latent of decease, and today it has just doubled… Wow. IT's identical strange intellection about this."

Andreas' life sentence has been rooted in wanting to make the most attainable difference for PWDs, he says — from his becoming a doctor and practicing in pediatrics in FRG to his eventual modulation to the D-industry where he's now been for well-nig a decade.

"My journey has been all about making an impact on diabetes, that's wherefore I went into medicine," helium says.

Andreas says his own diabetes was the catalyst to becoming a doctor, but besides because atomic number 2 spent a Lot of time in the infirmary — five to six weeks at a prison term when helium was young — atomic number 2 was also exposed to that world, and enjoyed the scientific elements of IT. He decided to pursue a career in pediatrics because he ascertained how diabetes changes so much between ages and how children must adapt over time. He liked the challenge of that, Andreas says.

But eventually, He saw a chance to make an even bigger difference by going into the industry side. That took him back to school for his Master in Business degree, so that he could both "speak up the medical language" and understand the business side.

Start out, Andreas worked for Eli Lilly and then BD, earlier joining Roche Diagnostics in 2005.

He loved practical on the diabetes device and supply face, but still cherished the undergo helium had on the medicine side before that. And so he found a chance to combine those ii pursuits, with Sanofi. That job took him from Indianapolis to New Jersey, where Sanofi U.S. is headquartered, to take on the function of one of six chief medical directors that report to Bob Cuddihy, the VP of diabetes for Sanofi's U.S. aesculapian personal business.

"I same to fuse those things because I jazz that with just one or the other, you're not likely to win the contend against diabetes," he said. "Really, diabetes is a sneaky disease and we need complete the tools we can get."

Andreas aforementioned historically, atomic number 2 wasn't impressed with Sanofi and power saw it as a "medicine-only" company that wasn't doing anything new. He also felt the company was too focused happening only type 2, and wasn't looking at the entire visualise of battling the disease, but rather honed in on taming specified blood sugars with a particular treatment. The company did introduce an app a few years ago, GoMeals, that was partnered up with CalorieKing, but that didn't really get it.

That changed with the launch of the iBGStar in 2012, Andreas aforesaid. Many eyes were centered on the accompany and how it appeared to be stepping into the device and tech side to become more of an groundbreaker. The iBGStar was the first off real step into that arena, Andreas says.

"That caught my attention and made me Thomas More aware of what Sanofi was doing differently," He said. "I started seeing Sanofi as a leader… and who doesn't want to be a  partially of a winning team up?"

Of course, Sanofi's big product for the diabetes world is the long-performing insulin Lantus. And they are working on newly insulin varities, such Eastern Samoa the collected U-300 that's yet to follow formally named just has been internally referred to atomic number 3 "Logos of Lantus," for lack of better terms. UPDATE: This "son-of-Lantus" got Food and Drug Administration approval in 2015 and is named Toujeo.

One priority Andreas says he's interested in seeing more than of is making diabetes management more irrefutable, so that information technology's not as much a "treat to give way" mentality so often relayed to PWDs. On the technical school and D-device pull, Andreas says he expects the company to become a player on Sir Thomas More insulin-delivery methods… I pressed, but he wouldn't say any Thomas More and right left it at a sense of "stay tuned."

Still, equally very much like Andreas loves the technical school and device side, atomic number 2 says he's not going to understructur his spirit on IT.

"You have to let (your tools) puzzle out for you," he aforesaid, mentioning his dad, World Health Organization uses a vial and syringe for his injections and doesn't have got any involvement in insulin pumps or CGMs. His papa's in his 73rd year of absolute with type 1 now, an satire arsenic we got to chat at the 73rd ADA Scientific Sessions — and Andreas said he projected to send his name badge to his dad overseas as a momento.

"At the cease of the day, information technology's around populate with diabetes and it goes beyond the molecule," he said. "I want to bring a sense of what it's like to swallow diabetes, to transfer how diabetes is seen. A lot has changed through the eld and information technology hush up is, and it's exciting to glucinium a split of this all as change is happening."

We too are excited to see what Sanofi has up its sleeve incoming, and will be observance to see how these many new faces with so many geezerhood of D-experience — the likes of Andreas — will shape what the company has in store for America PWDs!