Glooko, a mobile diabetes management startup, inked a deal with Roche Diabetes Care to extend the Glooko MeterSync to ACCU-CHEK meter users via an infrared data transfer adapter. The Glooko IR Adapter helps iPhone or iPod touch users who would like to more easily download blood glucose readings from their ACCU-CHEK meters to the Glooko Logbook app on their iOS device. The infrared adapter works with three ACCU-CHEK meters: ACCU-CHEK Aviva, ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus, and the ACCU-CHEK Nano SmartView Meter System.
Earlier this year Glooko raised $3.5 million in its first round of funding from an impressive group of investors, which included The Social+Capital Partnership, Bill Campbell, Vint Cerf, Judy Estrin and Andy Hertzfeld, Venky Harinarayan, Russell Hirsch and Xtreme Labs.
"Our goal at Roche is to give people with diabetes the tools they need to manage their diabetes in a way that is convenient for them," Marc Gibeley, Head of Roche Diabetes Care North America said in a statement. "We want to give our customers choices, and the Glooko products nicely complement our current suite of information management solutions. It's important for people to see their blood sugar patterns, and now our customers who prefer mobile Apple iOS devices can download readings and review trends on their iPhone or iPod touch to help them better manage their life with diabetes."
The news follows the recent commercial launch of Sanofi's iBGStar, an FDA-cleared glucose meter that connects directly to the iPhone and feeds data into a companion iPhone app. Sanofi's device team estimates that some 1.6 million iPhone users in the US have diabetes, which also might point to the potential user base for Glooko's connector cable and newly launch infrared adapter.
Glooko's MeterSync cable costs just under $40 and is available through Amazon.com. ACCU-CHEK meter users can use the meter if they spend an additional $14.95 for the IR Adapter.
The company also announced updates to its free Logbook app. Glooko updated the app's share function so that users could share their logbook by 2-week or 1-month PDF documents via email or efax. Glooko's cable and app are also now available for the UK market, too.
As it has done in the past, Glooko promised that its product offerings will leverage more capabilities of smartphones and tablets and evolve into medical devices that require Class II clearance from the FDA.
The startup was co-founded by the head of a similar project at Johnson & Johnson’s Lifescan division, which demonstrated an iPhone hooked up to a glucose meter via a cable way back in 2009. The prototype demonstrated on-stage at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference that year never actually launched commercially.
More in the press release below:
PRESS RELEASE: PALO ALTO, Calif. and INDIANAPOLIS, May 30, 2012 -- Glooko, Inc., makers of an innovative diabetes logbook solution, and Roche Diabetes Care, makers of ACCU-CHEK blood glucose monitoring systems, insulin pumps and information management solutions, today announced their co-promotion of the Glooko Logbook solution in the U.S. With the introduction of the Glooko IR Adapter, ACCU-CHEK customers who prefer to manage their diabetes on their iPhone or iPod touch can now use the Glooko MeterSync Cable and the Glooko Logbook app. With the Glooko products, not only can ACCU-CHEK users download their blood glucose readings from their meter, but they can also add notes and view the information anytime, anywhere on their mobile devices to help them monitor their blood glucose values.
The new Glooko IR Adapter connects to the Glooko MeterSync Cable to download blood glucose readings from ACCU-CHEK meters into the Glooko Logbook app on the consumer's iPhone and iPod touch. The Glooko IR Adapter is compatible with the following ACCU-CHEK systems: ACCU-CHEK Aviva, ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus, and the recently released ACCU-CHEK Nano SmartView Meter System.
"Our goal at Roche is to give people with diabetes the tools they need to manage their diabetes in a way that is convenient for them," said Marc Gibeley, Head of Roche Diabetes Care North America. "We want to give our customers choices, and the Glooko products nicely complement our current suite of information management solutions. It's important for people to see their blood sugar patterns, and now our customers who prefer mobile Apple iOS devices can download readings and review trends on their iPhone or iPod touch to help them better manage their life with diabetes."
Consumers can download their blood glucose readings seamlessly and within seconds. They simply connect the Glooko MeterSync Cable and Glooko IR Adapter to their iPhone or iPod touch and position it near their ACCU-CHEK monitoring system to enable the transfer of data via infrared. Their readings are entered into Glooko Logbook app, where users can take notes on the go, review trends and share their logbook with their healthcare professionals.
"As a nimble Silicon Valley company, we were able to very quickly design and manufacture an infrared solution for the Glooko IR Adapter in order to bring the Glooko Logbook to ACCU-CHEK customers. We are thrilled to join forces with Roche, a company with a 30-year legacy of innovation that makes a difference in people's lives, bringing convenience and steady improvements to helping people manage their glucose levels," said Anita Mathew, Co-Founder and VP Business Development at Glooko. "Giving people control of their diabetes and helping them become better self-managers is something accomplished with convenient testing and simple tools to understand the myriad variables that have an impact on their blood glucose. The ACCU-CHEK blood glucose monitoring systems and Glooko Logbook solution go hand-in-hand to help achieve this."
The Glooko MeterSync Cable and Glooko IR Adapter are available for purchase on Amazon.com. Pricing for the products are listed on the Glooko website at www.glooko.com/product/logbook/ . The Glooko Logbook app is available for free on the App Store and compatible with iPhone and iPod touch devices.
In addition to the Glooko IR Adapter, today Glooko also released a new version of the Glooko Logbook app. With improvements to the Share function, now users can easily share their logbook either by 2-week or 1-month PDFs via email or efax, AirPrint, and open the PDF in other apps on their iOS devices. As Glooko continues to innovate, future plans include more smartphone and tablet compatibility as well as geographies and solutions that encompass beyond FDA Class 1.
Diabetes is quickly becoming a global epidemic with far-reaching social, health and economic implications. In the US, 1 in 12 individuals are living with diabetes - 18.8M individuals who have been diagnosed and 7M who have not been officially diagnosed. Another 35% of Americans over the age of 20, or 79M individuals, have pre-diabetes and are at risk.[1]
About Glooko
Glooko(TM) is an innovative Silicon Valley startup with a unique solution for people with diabetes. In November 2011, Glooko launched the Glooko MeterSync Cable and Glooko Logbook app for iOS devices. The products enable people with diabetes to easily collect and view the information needed to help them successfully control their blood glucose readings. It has been hailed by users and industry influencers for its ease-of-use and ability to provide context to daily data collected by people with diabetes. The company was founded in June 2010 by technologist, Yogen Dalal, diabetes healthcare executive, Anita Mathew and mobile and web app developer, Sundeep Madra. Each founder and many on the Glooko team have a personal connection to diabetes. This is just the beginning on the mission to help people with diabetes live life while effortlessly managing their diabetes. For more information: www.glooko.com .
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2010, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested over 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com .
About Roche Diabetes Care
Roche Diabetes Care is a pioneer in the development of blood glucose monitoring systems and a global leader for diabetes management systems and services. For more than 35 years, the ACCU-CHEK brand has been dedicated to enable people with diabetes to live life as normal and active as possible as well as to empower healthcare professionals manage their patients' condition in an optimal way. Today, the ACCU-CHEK portfolio offers people with diabetes and healthcare professionals innovative products and impactful solutions for convenient, efficient and effective diabetes management. It encompasses blood glucose meters, insulin delivery systems, lancing devices, data management systems and education programs - contributing to an improved medical outcome. For more information: www.accu-chek.com .
