Abbott launches innovative blood glucose monitoring system

Multinational pharmaceutical company Abbott has rolled out its professional version of the Flash Glucose Monitoring System.

A glucose assessment tool, it takes a more focused approach to diabetes management by putting the doctor in charge, explains Matthew Bates, Director (Research and Development), Abbott Diabetes Care.

The Flash Glucose Monitoring System consists of a small, round sensor (about the size of a Rs.10 coin). A doctor applies this water-resistant and disposable sensor on the back of the upper arm of a person with diabetes. The sensor has a self-adhesive pad and stays in place for 14 days, requiring no patient interaction with the sensor or finger-prick calibration, Abbott explained.

The system continuously measures glucose in interstitial fluid through a small (5mm long, 0.4mm wide) filament that is inserted just under the skin. It records glucose levels every 15 minutes, capturing up to 1,340 glucose readings over two weeks, giving the treating doctor a complete glucose profile of their patient, it added. The data picked up by the sensor is read by the doctors using a reader, which looks like a mobile phone.

The monitoring system costs Rs.1,999 and is to be purchased by the person with diabetes, while the reader, just shy of Rs.5,000, is to be purchased by the doctor.

Explaining the difference in approaching the India market, compared to the European market where it was launched late last year, Bates said it matched the professional system sold to doctors in Europe. So the reader with the doctor can read multiple patients’ readings, unlike a consumer version where the reader is calibrated to the individual’s readings.

Senior endocrinologist Shashank Joshi said the product was useful in giving the doctor a glucose profile based on which diabetes can be managed more accurately, especially at times when blood sugar level drops. The one-time use system is a disposable, he said, adding doctors may recommend such intensive monitoring once in three months or so.

India now carries 20 per cent of the global burden of diabetes, with 65 million estimated to be living with diabetes. The number is expected to cross 100 million by 2030.

How it works

Explaining its working, the company said once the reader downloads glucose data from the sensor, the doctor can transfer the data from the reader to a computer. The software can generate reports that provide doctors with the Ambulatory Glucose Profile (AGP) graph, a visual snapshot that helps them easily understand when sugar levels go high and low over a typical 24-hour period.

Such data helps doctors have productive discussions with their patients, make more informed treatment decisions and modify treatment accordingly to suit a patient’s individual lifestyle, the company said. These reports can also be used as an information tool by people with diabetes to see the impact of food, medication, health and exercise on their blood sugar levels, thus empowering the patient to taking control of their diabetes, it added. Business Line