The Sticky Story Behind Founder Pete Lomas on the Origins of Not Just a Patch

Then Pete realized other people might need a bit of help keeping their CGM sensors on, too.

And that is how Not Just a Patch was born. Here’s a look at Pete’s journey with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and what he’s learned so far about creating the best CGM overpatch possible.

How Pete Found Out He Had Type 1 Diabetes

Pete was living in London and working hard, training for a marathon. But he started feeling increasingly strange, unaware he was developing the symptoms of T1D. 

“My eyesight got blurry, I was losing weight, I was really thirsty, and I was peeing all the time,” he remembered. A friend in Australia joked, “Either you have rabies or diabetes.”

Pete took the joke pretty seriously and purchased a glucose meter. The results didn’t make any sense — his blood sugar was wildly high. He went to his doctor, and she was shocked. “You shouldn’t even be awake right now. You need to go to the hospital.” 

Pete said, “Well, I feel fine, and I’ve got a busy day at work, so I’ll go later.”

She said, “Either you go to the hospital, or I’m calling an ambulance.”

Living with Diabetes

Pete has been managing his diabetes for almost 20 years with multiple daily injections (MDI) — even while training and competing in a marathon. He never stopped to think that diabetes might get in his way as an avid athlete. He just adapted.

“That’s a theme for me,” he said about intense exercise with T1D. “Diabetes has always been something I deal with, but it’s not who I am. It’s like a passenger that comes along for the ride.”

Pete said he focuses on living life first and managing his diabetes second. “I could do better, and I’ve been trying to improve.” 

For a while, he enjoyed a pretty lengthy honeymoon period during which his pancreas was still producing some insulin. This made blood sugar management much easier than it is today. “I’ve had my moments, too,” recalled Pete. “I lost consciousness once while driving, which led me to running my blood sugars higher for a while.”

Like anybody else, Pete is working hard to improve his time-in-range.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

Pete has always been a problem solver. He’s not someone who likes following rules or working in a traditional job. He’s always thinking about how to get out of the corporate world and do his own thing. That mindset helped him when he started making his own patches to protect his CGM sensors. “I was swimming in the ocean and couldn’t find a good patch to keep my CGM on,” he explained. 

Frustrated, he started creating his own. One New Year, Pete was listening to a podcast. It was about students in Germany working on solutions for people with back pain. The main idea was: “If you have a problem yourself, maybe you can find a solution that helps others too.” 

This got Pete thinking: “If I solve my own problem, maybe I can help other people with diabetes.” He looked online and saw that others had the same idea. There were some brands making patches, but Pete wanted to do better. “I saw a problem I wanted to fix, and I wanted to bring a better solution to market,” he said.

Starting "Not Just a Patch"

Pete named his company "Not Just a Patch" because he wanted to make more than just an ordinary adhesive. His patches are designed to be strong but gentle on the skin.

Designing a good patch isn’t easy. 

“Everybody’s skin is different, and what works for me might not work for someone else,” Pete explained. The main challenge is making a patch that stays on for 14 days. That’s a lot to ask, and it’s not always possible. If the patch isn’t strong enough, it falls off. But if it’s too sticky, it can irritate the skin.

Some customers can use the same brand patch for a year without problems, then suddenly develop skin reactions — just because of how their bodies respond. One cool thing they did was create a patch with a non-sticky center. While this is commonplace today, Pete said Not Just a Patch was the first to offer this option. “Some people want the middle to be sticky, others don’t."  So they left the middle part with a paper cover, giving customers options based on their preferences.

“We focus on making our patches better and better,” said Pete, on the mission to constantly improve the quality of his patch products. His team also works hard to meet the strict guidelines of the FDA and other global health agencies.

His patches are sold in many stores. They are available in approximately 90 percent of Walgreens stores across the US, in 2000 CVS stores, and they ship to various countries through their website. They also sell on Amazon, allowing people everywhere to purchase them.

“I started this to help people,” said Pete. 

Designing patches that work for everyone isn’t simple. Skin types and reactions vary significantly, but Pete is focused on developing increasingly better options.