mySugr Companion, Award-Winning iPhone App that Gamifies Blood Sugar Monitoring for People with Diabetes, Launches in the U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- mySugr Companion, Europe's leading and award-winning diabetes app for iPhone, is now available for download in the U.S. App Store as of today.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130606/PH27077-a )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130606/PH27077-b )

mySugr Companion is an FDA-approved diabetes management app that helps people with insulin-treated diabetes take control of their therapy through play. Taking a cue from the popularity of games among smartphone users of all ages, mySugr aims to make diabetes self-care less of a hassle and feel more like a game.

Managing diabetes with insulin is data-intensive. It requires checking blood glucose levels and matching food intake to insulin doses several times every day. All this data is extremely helpful for patients to review day-to-day, and can empower them to make adjustments to their diet, activity and medication. However, recording it can become so boring and frustrating that many patients may neglect monitoring.

"Currently, 371 millionⁱ people around the world live with diabetes. Frequent blood sugar monitoring and pattern analysis are key to optimal diabetes control, but the day-in-day-out monotony can lead even the most responsible patients to 'diabetes burnout,'" according to mySugr co-founder and type 1 diabetic Fredrik Debong. "mySugr Companion transforms a manual chore into a fun, interactive game. As a team including several people with type 1 diabetes, we're excited to be able to share our award-winning app with over 12 million Americans who manage their diabetes with insulin."

Two online videos spotlight the innovative mySugr app http://vimeo.com/67724553 and http://vimeo.com/67717425.

Gaming the system
mySugr developed the Companion app to provide motivation and positive feedback as users track their vital statistics. By turning diabetes self-management into a game, mySugr Companion helps people with diabetes to manage their therapy and stick with their program, while building up a data set to better understand how their body responds to specific foods, moods, and activities. A recent study by researchers from the Medical University of Vienna and INSEAD Healthcare Management showed high and consistent retention among European mySugr Companion users, better than any other app in the health categoryⁱⁱ.

"Anything that helps people with diabetes stay engaged with their self-management and reach their health goals is a step in the right direction. mySugr is a giant leap forward," explained Dr. Howard Zisser, Director of Clinical Research and Diabetes Technology at the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Consumer technology has shown a new trend of monitoring fitness and well-being data in products like the Nike+ and Fitbit. "But Type 1 diabetics are the true champions of the quantified self-movement," said author, entrepreneur, and mySugr advisory board member Tim Ferriss. The constant calculations they are making and the data-driven nature requiring them to make decisions without their doctor is what initially caught Tim's attention and ultimately interested him in the potential impact of mySugr.

Key features of mySugr Companion for iOS devices include:

• gamified approach to monitoring: players tame a diabetes monster with points accumulated via data entry
• quick and easy activity and food logging, including snapshots of meals
• complements users' existing diabetes management tools
• convenient, instantaneous diabetes data analysis
• in-app challenges to help users reach personal goals
• sleek PDF reports that users can email to healthcare providers
• partnered with patient organizations including Diabetes Hands Foundation (creators of tudiabetes.org) and JDRF (the global leader in research into a cure for type 1 diabetes), both major voices in type 1 diabetes advocacy
• secure data backup

FDA-registered medical device with European CE Mark
mySugr Companion was developed in accordance with the international standard ISO 13485. It received a CE Mark for a class 1 medical device from European authorities. The app went on to receive the equivalent approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It complies with the highest safety and quality requirements, and was the first diabetes app to achieve these standards.

Since its launch outside the US in 2012, mySugr Companion has become the top diabetes management app in the Medical category of the App Store in 6 countries, including Germany, France, and Italy.

About mySugr
mySugr is a Vienna-based startup founded in 2011. Earlier this year, it opened an office in San Francisco alongside partner company Delta Project Management. mySugr specializes in diabetes technology with a focus on apps for all ages on iOS and Android platforms. Delta PM is a project management, validation, and regulatory compliance consultancy with offices in San Francisco, Paris, and Abu Dhabi.

"We are delighted to announce our joint-venture partnership with mySugr," said Scott Kobayashi, managing partner and CFO of Delta PM. "They are an innovative company offering a much needed service for Americans with diabetes and we are confident their products will have a major impact in the US like they have had in Europe."

Most of the people working at mySugr have diabetes themselves, so their projects are based on years of experience as well as genuine concern for people with diabetes. In 2011, mySugr was named the Most Promising Company at the Hasso-Plattner Ventures Forum in Berlin, and the Best European Start-up at TechCrunch's Startup Week Challenge. In 2012, mySugr won the award for Best EMEA Startup among 500 competitors at WebIT Expo in Istanbul. mySugr was recently named the most innovative Austrian marketer by the Austrian Minister of the Economy.

For further information, please contact:
Kyle Rose
Managing Director, mySugr U.S.
Email

ⁱ International Diabetes Federation
ⁱⁱ Findings published at The 6^th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes, Paris France, March 1, 2013

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SOURCE mySugr