World of CGM evolving – October news

Hello Lovely Patchers and Happy Diabetes Month!!!

The technological world of diabetes has dramatically transformed, not only helping people in managing their blood glucose levels and disease prevention but also allowing them to understand their trends so that they can take positive measures to minimize adversities. Continuous glucose monitors are one of the best tools for people with diabetes to fight against hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia events. The advancement has also encouraged people to participate in their diabetes care in terms of lifestyle and dietary modification. Besides that, this technology has also fostered a more patient-centered care approach where people can make and change their care plans as per their needs and feasibilities without compromising their lives. 

Fresenius Medical Care North America has recently announced a partnership with Livongo Health Inc. to develop virtual care coordination services to help chronic kidney diseases’ (CKD), patients who also have diabetes. The system contains cellular-connected devices that are integrated with CGMs to monitor their glucose trends. 

“The outcome is to improve health and reduce costs for members of Fresenius Health Partners. Livango’s advanced data science system and clinically coordinated approach will be a pivot to develop effective solutions and empower the diabetic patients who are suffering from chronic kidney disease”, says Glen Tullman, founder and executive chair of the company. 

Researchers are admiring and applauding a proposed rule, announced last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that is expected to expand coverage for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Currently, the CMS only covers the therapeutic CGMs or those approved by the FDA to aid in developing evidence-based and impactful decisions in diabetes care. The agency explained in a press release, happened last week, that “unlike ‘adjunctive CGMs’ that require a confirmatory blood test to make changes in the care plan, the ‘therapeutic CGMs’ do not need any such verification.” CMS proposed to classify all CGMs ((not just limited to therapeutic CGMs) as DMEs (durable medical equipment) and establish payment amounts for these items and related accessories.”

Now coming to the most exciting part of this post, is to discuss some fascinating and interesting news summaries to understand the advancements taking place in the world of CGMs, especially for Freestyle Libre, Dexcom G6, and Medtronic Guardian.

Freestyle Libre

Sports technology company Supersapiens has partnered with the INEOS Grenadiers team as part of a remarkable initiative that will enable athletes to monitor real-time glucose levels through the Abbott Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor. The Supersapiens app will provide them with personalized insights, event analytics, and retrospective insights. In addition, through this, now the athletes can monitor the key factors and optimize their performance through glucose management and in-race energy regulation.

‘Supersapiens is a constant revolution in diabetes technology and we believe that this initiative will open new horizons for in-depth data visualization, interpretation, and effective clinical care management’ says Sir Dave Brailsford, team principal of INEOS Grenadiers.

Currently, the Supersapiens ecosystem utilizing Abbott’s Libre Sense for pre-order at Supersapiens.com in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the U.K.

Despite the advancements in the field of diabetes and CGMs, there are people who are deprived of their usage. Millions of peoples’ lives are being put at serious risks after being denied access to these life-saving devices according to the U.K. ‘s leading diabetes charity. Similarly, their investigation suggests that only 1 in 10 type-1 diabetic patients is receiving the device; hence they coined this situation as ‘postcode lottery.’

“These monitors have huge benefits in maintaining glycemic control and minimizing hospital admissions due to severe complications, thus they act as a valuable tool for better health outcomes,” says Danielle Howarth, head of care at Diabetes U.K.

Diabetes U.K. has launched a campaign known as ‘Cheque For Tech’ asking the government to raise the funding for diabetes technology. It is also calling for the eligibility criteria to be expanded to increase its coverage and accessibility to the people.

Dexcom G6 

DexCom, Inc. and  Eli Lilly & Company have joined hands and initiated a joint program for U.S. healthcare providers (HCPs) about Lilly’s new rapid-acting mealtime insulin Lyumjev™ (insulin lispro-aabc injection, 100 units/mL and 200 units/mL) which is now available in U.S. pharmacies and Dexcom G6 CGM Systems.

Using this technology, the clinicians will now be able to assess glucose levels of their patients and time in range with Dexcom G6 either in blinded or unblinded mode, for early detection and management of uncontrolled postprandial glucose levels (PPG)-glucose levels after meals, as PPG is one of the biggest contributing factors in raising A1C levels and the clinicians mostly neglect this component.

“Our objective is that the real-time data provided through Dexcom G6  will allow healthcare professionals to help their patients with diabetes to make more informed decisions, measure and evaluate their time in range in order to get themselves in-ranges,” says Rick Doubleday, chief commercial officer at Dexcom.

Another captivating fact for the future is that a sliver-thin Dexcom G7 device is about the size of a nickel, and it will have its own transmitter built into it. It’s in the product pipeline for 2021. We truly hope for a day when a CGM will look at our breakfast plate and tell us not to eat the bagel tpresent on the plate.

Apart from this, Roblox is hosting a game inside its virtual world platform to help raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes. This game ‘Game2Give’ was developed by Roblox developer MelonDev with medical research nonprofit JDRF, formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The goal is to raise awareness and support the medical teams to develop a cure for the disease that strikes one in 400 children. 

Medtronic Guardian

Medtronic is also the biggest player in the diabatic technology world. Since 1983, when its first pump was officially launched, the company is striving to improve its performance and promote the best consumer experience, not to forget better health outcomes too. 

As the number of people with diabetes is remarkably increasing, they will be benefited from the dramatic technology improvements of the past 20 years that give them more access to insulin pump delivery systems. This will significantly improve diabetes management and quality of life.

In summary, the innovation in diabetes technology continues to increase, with an aim to provide the best quality healthcare, evidence-based decision making, consumer friendliness and cost-effectiveness.