Glooko, which makes a cable that syncs popular glucose meters to a companion app on smartphones, has always said it plans eventually to replace that cable with a wireless Bluetooth connection. Today, the company announced that they've finally released that product, the Bluetooth MeterSync Blue. The small box will plug into a patient's glucose meter and send the information wireless, via Bluetooth, to Android or Apple phones.
The company will distribute the products via the health systems and payer groups that it works with. Those groups will be able to receive near-realtime health data from people with diabetes, which can then be fed into Glooko's Population Tracker, a software platform that helps doctors manage diabetic populations.
"Glooko's ability to sync blood glucose data from several meters and analyze trends has added efficiency within my clinical practice," Dr. Zachary Bloomgarden, an endocrinologist at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, said in a statement. "I am looking forward to using Glooko MeterSync Blue, which should make the platform more valuable by ensuring that patients can more seamlessly share their data with me between visits, particularly those at higher risk, including women during pregnancy and poorly controlled patients initiating treatment with insulin. It should also help with patients who are not at high risk but for whom the ability to review home glucose monitoring results will improve adherence to the increasingly complex regimens of modern diabetes management.”
Glooko has historically defended its approach to diabetes management by pointing to the size of the existing, non-connected meter market. By building a product that connects with existing glucometers, they can address the entrenched market more efficiently. Vikram Singh, marketing manager at Glooko, explained to MobiHealthNews in an email that adding Bluetooth connectivity is an even bigger game changer for the many users of non-connected glucometers because patients no longer need to remember to plug in and sync their meter.
"Rather than attempting to create our own wireless meter, Glooko has consulted with the major medical device companies to make the 30 most popular blood glucose meters Bluetooth enabled with a single Glooko device," Singh wrote. "This go-to-market strategy is a huge differentiator compared to wireless meter manufacturers – Glooko is compatible with the tens of millions of meters already being deployed and insured worldwide. This means we provide remote monitoring capabilities in the scale of tens-of-thousands within months, not years."
Singh added that MeterSync Blue does not require a new, separate FDA clearance.
