Roche is integrating its mySugr diabetes management tool into Care Innovations’ telehealth service. The collaborators see the combination of their technologies facilitating remote care of people with diabetes and better management of the condition.
Switzerland’s Roche bought mySugr last year to build out its diabetes-focused digital health services unit. The startup is best known for a widely adopted mobile app that helps users analyze their data and receive personalized advice from certified diabetes coaches. Roche saw these features—and the app’s 1 million users—as a good fit for its digital health plan.
Now, Roche is aiming to bring mySugr to more people in the U.S. and Canada by integrating it into Care Innovations’ platform. Care Innovations, which was founded as a joint venture between Intel and GE Healthcare, provides organizations including the Veterans Health Administration with remote care technologies that enable patients to capture vital signs and share them with their physicians.
This model overlaps with aspects of mySugr’s offering. Notably, mySugr enables patients to receive remote advice from diabetes coaches and ships Roche’s Accu-Chek Guide blood glucose meter and test strips directly to its customers.
In conjunction with the formation of the collaboration, Roche Venture Fund participated in the first closing of Care Innovations’ series B round. The investment is underpinned by Roche’s vision for how care of chronic conditions will change in the years to come.
“Digitization is the key to success in managing chronic conditions," Carole Nuechterlein, head of the Roche Venture Fund, said in a statement. "Having a broad range of payer, insurance and hospital customers, Care Innovations is well positioned to become the leader in remote patient management solutions, not just for people with diabetes but people with other acute or chronic medical conditions."