Merck KGAA and GlucoMe Exploring Expansion for Digital Diabetes System

YARKONA, Israel, May 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital diabetes solution provider, GlucoMe, announced today that it is exploring expansion of its partnership with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. This follows a successful joint pilot in several Vietnam hospitals, facilitated by a third party.

In August 2018, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a world leader in science and technology with more than 60 years of experience in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, partnered with GlucoMe to assess the advantages of GlucoMe's digital diabetes care solution against the current standard of care in Vietnam.

GlucoMe is a digital diabetes management solution that effectively and efficiently streamlines the disease management process for patients and the entire healthcare system. The GlucoMe system was integrated in five Vietnam hospitals. Three hundred patients with diabetes used GlucoMe's wireless blood glucose monitor over a three-month period to measure their blood sugar levels at home. The clinical data was synced through GlucoMe's mobile app and analyzed by GlucoMe's Digital Diabetes Clinic (DDC) and its Control Tower alert system. This enabled medical professionals and their staff to continuously monitor their patients and intervene more efficiently and effectively than the current face-to-face standard of care allows. It also helped medical teams identify and prioritize severe and urgent cases for the timeliest intervention.

Patients and staff (including physicians, nurses, administrators and management) expressed high satisfaction with the platform, with a patient retention rate of 81%. The number of interactions with patients was increased x13, with the same resources and staff. Over the course of the pilot, 94% of the patients reached and maintained compliance targets, and 16% reduction in overall glucose was achieved (1% estimated HbA1c reduction).

"GlucoMe's pilot with Merck KGaA has been completed with great success," said GlucoMe's CEO, Yiftah Ben-Aharon. "Our teams, along with a third party, worked together for smooth integration of GlucoMe's entire platform – from hardware to our data-driven Digital Diabetes Clinic – in the Vietnam hospitals. Our comprehensive digital diabetes management solution has significantly impacted how their staff interacts with patients: increasing dramatically the number of interactions and touchpoints with patients with the existing resources; achieving better control and managing treatment across a population; and enabling true and efficient remote care. Now we are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Merck to scale up the digital solution in Vietnam and reach facilities and populations in additional countries."

"We at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany recognize type 2 diabetes as one of today's most pressing global public health challenges. By providing treatment for diabetes patients for more than 60 years, we have gained a deep understanding of the clinical use of our portfolio as well as of patients' needs. Offering additional services and tools beyond our drug portfolio will help patients to better manage their disease," added Daniel Ruggiero, Head of Diabetes Strategy at the Biopharma business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.   

GlucoMe is now preparing to launch the digital platform commercially in Vietnam and is in the process of evaluating additional global markets for expansion.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany in Diabetes

Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany is a global leading player in the type 2 diabetes area and originator of the orally administered antihyperglycemic drug Glucophage® (metformin) which has more than sixty years of clinical use and is the first line recommended monotherapy in the type 2 diabetes treatment guidelines. Merck KGaA Darmstadt, Germany received label extension for the administration of Glucophage® for non-diabetic hyperglycemia (commonly known as prediabetes) in many countries including the United Kingdom and is currently seeking this indication in additional countries worldwide.

About GlucoMe

GlucoMe is a digital health company developing and marketing a comprehensive digital solution for diabetes management. With its new algorithm-based Decision Support System analyzing relevant diabetes data and providing medical teams with treatment recommendations, GlucoMe is on track to realizing its vision of offering an autonomous diabetes health care platform.

The GlucoMe solution enables smart and cost-effective remote care and monitoring, streamlining and simplifying diabetes care for patients, caregivers and medical professionals. Its core architecture enables quick and simple implementation and allows organizations to easily scale up while delivering personalized quality care. 

The GlucoMe platform includes an affordable wireless blood glucose monitor; a mobile app; a Digital Diabetes cloud-based monitoring & control management software for healthcare organizations and professionals; and a Control Tower, to enable patient and population data-driven prioritization and management.

For additional information about GlucoMe, visit www.glucome.com.

SOURCE GlucoMe & Merck KGaA Darmstadt