Roche‘s Accu-Check insulin pump will integrate with the Diabeloop monitoring system as part of a promising partnership between the two companies.
In keeping with industry innovation, Swiss Pharma Roche’s insulin pump will enable automated insulin delivery through its partnership with French AI company Diabeloop.
The collaboration is expected to provide patients with a comprehensive solution through the integration of Roche’s Accu-Chek Insights insulin pump with the Diabeloop monitoring system. Instead of relying on an algorithm to assist them, patients will benefit from a hybrid system designed to take the burden of glucose dosing off their shoulders.
The partners are keeping a close eye on innovation in the sector, as hybrid systems typically consist of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), an insulin pump and a glucose sensing algorithm.
The French healthtech company uses an algorithm to continuously monitor insulin levels and data. It can then stop insulin delivery, adjust the basal rate or administer an automatic correction bolus. This algorithm has the potential to calculate and adjust insulin delivery throughout the day, other than during meal times when patients must take control of dosing.
The hybrid system is expected to be introduced in Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands in 2021.
Innovation in Insulin Delivery
The hybrid closed-loop system has been pitched by companies and innovators alike as a solution to the burden of diabetes management, following more than a decade of research into its development.
In 2018, the Lancet published an investigative study that found the hybrid closed-loop system to improve glucose monitoring while reducing the risk of hypoglycemia compared to self-managing glucose levels using an insulin pump and CGM.
Marcel Gmuender, head of Roche Diabetes Care, explained in the Roche media release how challenging diabetes management is for patients, who face daily challenges in achieving treatment goals. He went on to say that “the integration of the Accu-Chek Insight insulin pump into an IDA system creates new opportunities to reduce the burden of constantly adjusting insulin doses for people with diabetes.
This partnership with Diabeloop is designed to improve patients’ quality of life by automating their personal insulin needs throughout the day. Gmuender concluded by saying that Roche believes that “the more personalized the therapy, the better the results.”
Automated Insulin Dosing: A Growing Market
Automated insulin dosing has become a key component of optimizing diabetes care. With industry leaders partnering for its development.
Last year, Insulet partnered with healthtech Dexcom and Abbott to integrate its Omnipod Horizon automated insulin delivery system into the partners’ CGM devices. Medtronic’s MiniMed 770G system, meanwhile, has received FDA clearance for its own hybrid closed-loop system for young children with Type 1 diabetes, making it the first of its kind to be approved by the agency.
Diabeloop, has been developing its system since its founding in 2015 while the startup secured €31 million in a Series B funding round in 2019.
Roche, meanwhile, is a leader in the diabetes sector, having received FDA clearance in 2015 for an Accu-Chek connected assistance app. Yet it has since struggled with its app development, with the FDA recalling the app six times up to 2019.