Oct 7 2009
Cinterion Wireless Modules, the global leader in cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) communication modules, and Diabetech, the leader in patient-centric health care programs, today announced their collaboration on the fourth generation GlucoMON® platform, the world’s easiest-to-use wireless diabetes management system designed to help the over 220 million people worldwide struggling to manage the global diabetes and pre-diabetes pandemic. The 4th generation GlucoMON® device uses Cinterion’s TC65 Terminal and works in conjunction with Diabetech’s Automated Diabetes Management System (ADMS), the world’s most accurate and reliable data to help manage and control blood glucose levels and change behavior to avoid potentially deadly consequences of diabetes. The GlucoMON-ADMS platform is the only system of its kind with proven randomized and controlled clinical trial outcomes data and major medical plan coverage provided by BlueCross BlueShield of Texas, Driscoll Children’s Health Plan, Medicaid and others. The technology platform operates on the AT&T and T-Mobile cellular networks worldwide.
The GlucoMON appliance is a key component in Diabetech’s ADMS; the most extensively tested patient-centric diabetes education and management platform with 24-7, real time worldwide support addressing the millions of people living with diabetes. By simply connecting a blood glucose meter to the GlucoMON, which utilizes Cinterion’s TC65 Terminal, a series of automated care algorithms are triggered in the remote data center that analyze information and deliver timely feedback that help users bring blood sugar levels back to a normal range.
“GlucoMON-ADMS is the perfect example of how smart M2M wireless technology can help improve quality of life, making disease management easier and ultimately making people healthier,” said Peter Fowler, regional president, Cinterion Wireless Modules, Americas. “We’re very proud to partner with Diabetech who is leading the industry in terms of health insurance coverage and clinical testing which are two mission critical components of telehealth solutions. Our combined strengths made it possible to quickly bring this 4th generation device to market bringing effective preventive health care to those in need.”
The sophisticated platform distinguishes individual patient profiles and issues and is used in a variety of ways – by adults to simplify their own efforts to maintain healthy blood glucose levels; by concerned parents who receive automated notifications of their child’s blood sugar levels while they are away at a school; and by pregnant mothers with a temporary form of the disease who depend on their doctors and nurses to guide them through a sharp learning curve. When prudent, GlucoMON-ADMS automatically connects the patient to family members, Diabetech's diabetes educators or any number of the world’s finest outpatient diabetes programs including Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor Health Care System, Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research / Southeast and others.
“In the past eight years working on more than a dozen clinical trials and many system refinements, we’ve created an intuitive health platform that simplifies patient tasks, creates more efficiencies for providers, significantly improves blood sugar control and decreases costs to the health care system at large,” said Kevin McMahon, Diabetech’s CEO. “We selected Cinterion for their market leading expertise and high quality M2M products that allowed us to quickly and easily migrate away from previous networks and scale the platform with confidence. With Cinterion’s superior engineering and technology, GlucoMON is now relevant to people worldwide as a catalyst for changing behaviors and improving overall well-being for those struggling with silent killers like diabetes.”
Telehealth M2M solutions such as GlucoMON-ADMS are a quickly growing market segment for their ability to cut medical costs and help manage chronic disease. A study released this summer by ABI Research projects that there will be approximately 15 million wireless telehealth sensors and devices in use by 2012, or more than double the number of wireless telehealth systems in use today. In addition to its expanding availability in the U.S., Diabetech is underway with trial design for type 1 and type 2 diabetes in pregnancy in addition to hospital-based use in the UK with its first UK patient expected in early 2010.
Diabetes rates skyrocket globally with millions left untreated