Roche's diabetes management app mySugr's Logbook is now integrating with Novo Nordisk's connected insulin pens: the NovoPen 6 and NovoPen Echo Plus.

Patients will be able connect the mySugr Logbook to their smart-pen device in order to create more data set and reports with more insights. According to the companies, the goal is to be able to share more insights with healthcare providers in order to guide disease management.

This new effort comes after the Swiss pharma giant signed a collaboration deal with the diabetes company in 2019.

WHY IT MATTERS

Diabetes is a common condition around the world. According to the World Health Organization, about 422 million people are living with diabetes, and the condition is directly attributed to 1.6 million deaths a year.

While the condition cannot be cured, it can be managed. Increasingly we've seen tech companies seeking to alleviate the burden of diabetes management.

“Connecting the Novo Nordisk smart insulin pens with our mySugr app marks an important step on our way to offer a truly open ecosystem,” Jörg Hölzing, managing director of mySugr and head of strategy and customer solutions at Roche Diabetes Care, said in a statement.

“Our vision is to help people everywhere in the world manage their diabetes better – irrespective of the brand of their solutions. We enable both people with diabetes and healthcare professionals to make better treatment decisions based on data points gathered by devices that are connected to our open ecosystem.

"By integrating the NovoPen and NovoPen Echo Plus into mySugr, we improve the quality of patient-physician interaction and support a more holistic and personalized view on therapy outcomes."

THE LARGER TREND

This is hardly the first integration for Novo Nordisk. The connected insulin pens have been integrated with Abbott's FreeStyle Libre system, Dexcom, Glooko and others.

Roche has been in the digital diabetes space for some time. In 2017, Roche acquired the digital diabetes management app mySugr after having invested and partnered with the company previously.

In September Roche announced that it was adding a new remote-patient-monitoring tool to its Diabetes Care Platform.