Despite the prevalence of diabetes, millions of people who could benefit from the latest medtech management tools are unserved or underserved. Patients who do receive a diagnosis and access to continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) and insulin pumps face a learning curve and adjustment in their daily routines to achieve their best outcomes.
That’s why leading diabetes care companies stress the importance of partnerships in promoting access to diabetes medtech and educating the public on what it means to have diabetes. Dexcom, for example, has enlisted popular singers Nick Jonas and Lance Bass as “warriors” to explain their use of the company’s diabetes management technology in public settings. Jonas and Bass are regularly photographed with their CGMs visible.
“I was talking to a customer recently who told me that her son, who has diabetes, was completely excited when he saw Nick Jonas at a concert wearing a Dexcom CGM on his arm,” said Jake Leach, president and CEO of Dexcom, in a MedTech Conference session. “And it was really making diabetes okay. Those partnerships are so important because they help spread awareness for what different medical technologies can do and the outcomes that we can drive.”
Companies also form partnerships to advance diabetes care technology. Abbott and Medtronic, considered competitors, collaborated on a CGM combining Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre technology with Medtronic’s automated insulin delivery system.
“I think everybody was shocked that we partnered with one of our closest competitors,” said Chris Eso, Medtronic’s vice president, global head of corporate and business development, mergers and acquisitions and ventures, also speaking at The MedTech Conference. “But it’s about serving our patients and advancing the technology. And so if there’s an opportunity to do that, we will. And maybe someday we’ll work with Johnson & Johnson on something. Who knows? You heard it here first.”
Another such partnership is Dexcom’s agreement with the Oura ring maker.
“Ten years ago, I never would have thought we’d be partnering with a consumer tech device like the Oura ring,” Leach said. “But they have their sleep data and their analyses, their stress analysis, all the things that Oura provides. And then you bring what Dexcom provides with glucose and nutrition. You combine those, it’s more powerful of an experience than what either of us could do on our own.”
Another example of companies’ combining forces: Tandem Diabetes Care will combine its insulin delivery systems with Abbott’s dual glucose-ketone sensor in development to give people with diabetes more options.
Partnerships also involve humanitarian work. On World Diabetes Day, embecta announced an expanded partnership with Direct Relief, a leading humanitarian aid organization, to donate insulin injection devices to those in need.
Lance Bass relishes the opportunity to teach people, especially children, about diabetes and easing any fear of the experience.
On the visibility of his CGM, Bass told Yahoo!, “I’m thinking, okay, maybe a kid is seeing that and being like, ‘Oh, I have that too,’ and they don’t feel so alone.”
This Diabetes Awareness Month, hat’s off to the many companies whose partnerships make a meaningful difference toward increasing access and building awareness of the tremendous technology available to help those with diabetes manage their condition safely and effectively.
Have a diabetes care partnership you’d like AdvaMed to highlight? Email us at [email protected].
Scott Whitaker is AdvaMed president and CEO and the father of a daughter with Type 1 diabetes.
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