A Milwaukee-based startup focused on easing the pain of daily insulin shots recently celebrated its best sales month after working for two years to take its needle-stabilizing product to the pharmaceutical market.
Steady Shot is an add-on for diabetes insulin pen needles. The device connects to standard pen needles and holds the needle steady during the injection process, offering users the ability to reach more injection sites and control their blood glucose levels.
Founder and CEO Shawn Michels came up with the idea for the Steady Shot following his own struggles with injecting. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2012 and injecting between five and 10 times a day, Michels says he soon developed painful bruising and lipohypertrophy—an abnormal accumulation of fat underneath the skin’s surface similar to the development of scar tissue—which made it difficult to inject on designated sites and required more insulin to get the right dosage.
While diabetics are often instructed to rotate injection sites, Michels says he found it challenging to reach the areas on his arms, back, and butt, relying instead on injection sites on his abdomen or thighs. An entrepreneurship class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison motivated Michels to find a solution to his pain. Read the full story here.
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