Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) announced that it will integrate Dexcom (NSDQ:DXCM) products into its personalized diabetes management system, now under development.
Under the new, non-exclusive agreement, Indianapolis-based Lilly will use San Diego-based Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices in pen-based and pump-based platforms in Lily’s diabetes management system.
The pen-based platform is designed to integrate personalized data from a pre-filled, disposable insulin pen with data from glucose-sensing technology, while the pump-based platform, a hybrid closed-loop system, is designed to automate insulin dosing through the integration of an insulin pump, CGM and handheld controller or smartphone application.
“Even with all of the advances in diabetes technology, insulin therapy is still overwhelming and complex,” Lilly Diabetes SVP of connected care & insulins Mike Mason said in a news release. “We’re excited to include Dexcom’s technology in the solutions we deliver to people with diabetes to help improve health outcomes by delivering actionable insights in one connected system.”
“CGMs provide people with diabetes and their healthcare team with important real-time data that can help alleviate the burden of diabetes management, including overall glucose level trends and information on time spent in target blood glucose range,” added DexCom EVP & chief commercial officer Rick Doubleday. “We’re looking forward to expanding our collaboration with Lilly as we integrate our technology into their system and believe it will help reduce some of the complexity that can come from managing diabetes every day.”
Last week, DexCom CEO Kevin Sayer publicly apologized for an outage over Thanksgiving weekend that cut off users’ ability to share glucose monitoring data with caregivers and loved ones.
The company’s Follow app stopped alerting patients and caregivers of blood glucose highs and lows the morning of Saturday, Nov. 30, and the company acknowledged that a large number of patients were affected. Parents of children with Type 1 diabetes use the app to alert them if blood sugar levels change drastically, especially overnight.
