Boehringer Ingelheim’s work on a web and smartphone programme for diabetes self-management has finally got off the ground with the launch of a US study.
It aims to investigate the effect of a digital diabetes programme on medical and pharmaceutical costs, clinical care and patient behaviour.
Boehringer last year partnered with US digital health management company Healthrageous to evaluate the effects of a combination of digital coaching and wireless glucose meters on glucose control and medication adherence.
Now the company’s have teamed up with United BioSource Corporation (UBC), who will identify and help manage the recruitment of type 2 diabetes patients for the study from nearly a dozen large US employers.
The SMART study’s digital diabetes self-management programme will involve a personalised action plan with health behaviour improvement goals, a wireless glucose meter transmitting data to clinical monitors and HbA1c at-home test kits.
Klaus Wilgenbus, SVP, PM, business development, licensing and strategy at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to innovation in diabetes treatment and strives for solutions that offer a ‘beyond pill’ approach in health care.
“As part of our ongoing collaboration with Healthrageous, this project adds nicely to our goal to provide and develop solutions for patients and their families that contribute to a more holistic way of diabetes treatment.”
The ultimate goal of the programme is to leverage technology in a way that makes the personalised journey of self-managing diabetes easier for patients.
Rick Lee, Healthrageous president and CEO, said: “Innovations in machine learning and technology offer the opportunity to create and deliver a unique experience for each person with type 2 diabetes.
“We are delighted to be working with Boehringer Ingelheim and UBC on this first-of-its-kind evaluation of the promise that digital technology holds in stemming the type 2 diabetes epidemic.”
For Boehringer the collaboration is part of its drive to explore new technology and services that can be aligned to its commercial medicines business, an increasing focus of which is on diabetes.
It can also be seen as part of a concerted digital push within the therapy area;one that in the last year has encompassed initiatives such as an online diabetes management game, HCP education, online behavioural change and a wireless pill bottle.
