Israel’s digital diabetes solution provider, GlucoMe, announced that it is exploring expansion of its partnership with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. This follows a successful joint pilot in several Vietnam hospitals, facilitated by a third party.

In August 2018, Merck KGaA, a world leader in science and technology with more than 60 years of experience in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, partnered with GlucoMe to assess the advantages of GlucoMe's digital diabetes care solution against the current standard of care in Vietnam.

GlucoMe is a digital diabetes management solution that effectively and efficiently streamlines the disease management process for patients and the entire healthcare system. The GlucoMe system was integrated in five Vietnam hospitals. Three hundred patients with diabetes used GlucoMe's wireless blood glucose monitor over a three-month period to measure their blood sugar levels at home.

The clinical data was synced through GlucoMe's mobile app and analyzed by GlucoMe's Digital Diabetes Clinic (DDC) and its Control Tower alert system. This enabled medical professionals and their staff to continuously monitor their patients and intervene more efficiently and effectively than the current face-to-face standard of care allows. It also helped medical teams identify and prioritize severe and urgent cases for the timeliest intervention.

Patients and staff (including physicians, nurses, administrators and management) expressed high satisfaction with the platform, with a patient retention rate of 81%. The number of interactions with patients was increased x13, with the same resources and staff. Over the course of the pilot, 94% of the patients reached and maintained compliance targets, and 16% reduction in overall glucose was achieved (1% estimated HbA1c reduction).

"GlucoMe's pilot with Merck KGaA has been completed with great success," said GlucoMe's CEO, Yiftah Ben-Aharon. "Our teams, along with a third party, worked together for smooth integration of GlucoMe's entire platform – from hardware to our data-driven Digital Diabetes Clinic – in the Vietnam hospitals. Our comprehensive digital diabetes management solution has significantly impacted how their staff interacts with patients: increasing dramatically the number of interactions and touchpoints with patients with the existing resources; achieving better control and managing treatment across a population; and enabling true and efficient remote care. Now we are looking forward to continuing our collaboration with Merck to scale up the digital solution in Vietnam and reach facilities and populations in additional countries."

GlucoMe is now preparing to launch the digital platform commercially in Vietnam and is in the process of evaluating additional global markets for expansion.