One Drop touted data today from a retrospective study of people with Type I and Type II diabetes using its mobile diabetes management app.

The data, which were published yesterday in JMIR Diabetes, showed that people using the One Drop mobile app had a 1.1% to 1.3% absolute reduction in A1C in 4 months.

The app is available for iOS and Android systems and allows users to manually and passively store, share and track their data using Apple HealthKit, Google Fit or One Drop’s Chrome blood glucose meter. Users can also schedule insulin reminders, view their stats, set goals and talk with other users.

“We used real-world data to produce timely and relevant results,” Dr. Chandra Osborn, One Drop’s VP of health & behavioral informatics, said in prepared remarks. “More often than not, relevance and the gold standard randomized controlled trial are at odds. We didn’t perform a RCT on outdated technology. We studied current technology and recent data, and found A1c improved among people using the One Drop app. We also linked that improvement to tracking self-care with the app.”

“From study to publication in less than 3 months is unheard of. That’s impossible to do with a RCT. When it comes to technology, relevance and speed are everything.”

“Prior to this study, the scientific literature told us that diabetes mobile apps could potentially improve A1c by -0.45%,” founder & CEO Jeff Dachis added. “I’m thrilled to present evidence that says otherwise. We are seeing dramatic improvements in A1c — often achieved with drugs, but rarely, if ever, seen with digital therapeutics and self-care interventions. And, in this case, we’re doing it all at scale for less than a fraction of the cost of current standards of care: free.”

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