Patch Pumps, Implanted Sensors and a Year of Omnipod 5 Data

For people with type 1 diabetes, the biggest change of the past decade was not a new drug. It was automated insulin delivery: a pump that reads a continuous glucose sensor and adjusts insulin every few minutes on its own. September 2026 brought three pieces of news on that front. A 12 month study of Insulet's tubeless Omnipod 5, an FDA clearance for a rival patch pump from Beta Bionics called Mint, and a deal to connect Beta Bionics' iLet system to Eversense 365, a glucose sensor implanted under the skin for a year.

Only the first is outcome data. The other two are products and plans, and it is worth keeping the categories apart.

A year of Omnipod 5 in France

The Omnipod 5 study, published in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, extended a 13 week randomized trial that compared the system with conventional, non automated pump therapy in adults with type 1 diabetes. Participants in France could continue or switch to Omnipod 5 for 12 more months, and 75 did.

Compared with where they started before the original trial, time in the target glucose range of 70 to 180 mg/dL rose by 17.9 percentage points to 62.3%, or about 4.3 more hours a day. HbA1c, the three month blood sugar average, fell from 8.33% to 7.18%, a drop of 1.14 points. Time spent above range fell by 17.7 points and average sensor glucose by 27.8 mg/dL. The improvements held both for people who had used the system in the original trial and for those who switched to it from the control arm. Scores on questionnaires about diabetes quality of life and confidence in avoiding lows were maintained or improved at 6 and 12 months. Adverse events were infrequent, at 12 per 100 person years.

The limits are straightforward. The extension had no control group, so the comparison is before and after, not system against alternative. It covers one country and 75 motivated volunteers, and the study was funded by Insulet, the manufacturer. Still, the main worry with any diabetes device is that early gains fade once the novelty wears off, and here they held for a year.

Mint: a second tubeless option

Beta Bionics announced FDA clearance of Mint on September 14, positioning it directly against Omnipod. Its design splits the pump into a reusable part and a disposable patch, so it never needs recharging, and the company says it is smaller than the leading patch pump. Each patch holds 200 units of insulin and is worn for three days, with a 12 hour grace period. It is rated waterproof to 5 feet for 60 minutes, runs from iOS or Android phones, and works with the Dexcom G7, Dexcom G7 15 Day and Abbott FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus sensors. Changing the disposable patch does not require pairing the phone again, and the firmware updates over the air. Beta Bionics says it can make at least 1.5 million disposable units in 2027 and hopes to exceed that.

Two details temper the news. Full US launch is planned for the first quarter of 2027, not now, and only through pharmacies; the company expects about 40% of insured Americans to be able to buy it with their pharmacy benefit at launch, rising to at least 50% within a year. And the version Beta Bionics is promoting, Mint 3D, depends on a new dosing algorithm called 3D Intelligence that is still under FDA review. The company's own release labels Mint 3D as investigational.

A sensor that stays in for a year

Senseonics describes its Eversense 365 as the only glucose sensor implanted for a full year. Senseonics announced a partnership with Beta Bionics on September 14, and on September 22 Beta Bionics announced it will integrate Eversense 365 with its iLet Bionic Pancreas, with a commercial launch expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, and with Mint later. The pairing would give people who want fewer sensor changes a route into automated insulin delivery.

That is a real gain in choice, and choice matters with devices people wear every day. But a pump that is cleared, a pairing that is planned and an algorithm that is pending are three different things, and device claims deserve the same scrutiny as any other health number, as our piece on what wearables really measure shows. Only one of this season's announcements comes with a year of numbers, and the rest should be judged when theirs arrive.