Glooko Releases Updated Glucose Management System and iPhone Application
On June 10, Glooko released an updated version of its smartphone-based diabetes management system. As a reminder, Glooko simplifies meter downloading through the use of a universal MeterSync Cable ($39.95 on Amazon) – notably, the cable can upload data from 19 different blood glucose meters (ACCU-CHECK, Bayer, Freestyle, GLUCOCARD, i-SENS, OneTouch, and ReliOn) to an iPhone app. With this update, Glooko has notably added a web-based platform, allowing data from the mobile app to be viewed online. The app also has features such as graphs and statistics that makes it easier for users to observe when their readings fall in and out of range and quickly compare their current glucose averages to the prior week or month. Users can also input how much food they eat, how much exercise they do, and the medications they take. The data can be e-mailed or faxed as a PDF to healthcare providers (HCP) via a share button in the application, which we hope will facilitate better provider-patient communication and ideally help optimize therapy.
We are excited about Glooko’s efforts to simplify data downloading, as it is a key area for improvement in glucose control. Ultimately, we hope to see companies go a bit farther and attempt to make glucose data more actionable for patients – for instance, through pattern recognition algorithms and smart analytics, an app could give treatment recommendations (e.g., “Your glucose is consistently high at 1:30 pm; you may want to take more insulin at lunch time”). Of course, once software goes down this road, the regulatory bar for approval rises significantly. Still, we are hopeful that the coming years will see an explosion in data management software.–AK/AB
