Last year we published the story of Townsville GP Dr Kenny Clark, who created his own ‘pancreas’.

Dr Clark is a ‘looper’ — somebody with type 1 diabetes who wouldn’t wait for the TGA to approve a device for automating insulin delivery based on real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

Loopers opt for a DIY approach, hacking into insulin pumps and linking them to CGM devices via smartphones.

But even where official looping devices have been approved as medical devices, the evidence base for their efficacy is small.