In 2013, Sarnath Chattaraj and his team began to investigate a question: Can Medtronic extend the life of infusion sets for people living with diabetes?  

It was an important question to answer. Infusion sets are critical to insulin-pump therapy, but up until now, they haven’t last long. For decades, users have needed to replace their infusion sets every two to three days – creating a burden for people living with diabetes.

Fortunately, Chattaraj, a Senior Research Director, Bakken Fellow, and Technical Fellow within our diabetes business, and his team succeeded. They doubled that amount of time, giving many people up to a week before they change their sets and helping them save money on insulin.

The technology is now available in the U.S. and Europe. 

More people behind our pipeline:

Meet Beth Stephen

Meet Joe Brannan

Meet Rina Rabarimanantsoa

Of course, achieving that goal wasn’t easy. It took years, and there were plenty of stops, starts, successes, and failures.  

“Everyone came together, and we were never hopeless in the process,” Chattaraj said.

When the Medtronic Extended infusion set received a key regulatory approval, the team celebrated with a dance party.

Chattaraj brought deep expertise in drug-delivery technologies to the work. And he was passionate about the development effort for another reason: he lives with diabetes every day.

From a small town in India, Chattaraj added that he’s “living the dream.” 

“I didn’t think I’d come this far, but here I am. My journey has taught me to bring passion and empathy to everything I do.” 

Learn more about the Medtronic Extended infusion set.