Ascensia Diabetes seeks connection

It’s been five years since Ascensia Diabetes Care was spun out of Bayer. In that time, the company has achieved several key milestones, including the launch of the Contour Next One meter and the Contour Diabetes app, and its entry into the growing CGM space through a partnership with Senseonics to distribute the implantable Eversense system. Today, the company estimates it provides diabetes testing supplies to 10 million people every day, and its app has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times.

“As an independent company, (we’ve been able to) invest in things that make a difference to people with diabetes,” said Joe Delahunty, global head of communications, Ascensia Diabetes Care. “Focusing our efforts and resources on innovation was exactly where we wanted to be.”

Delahunty spoke with HME News recently about Ascensia’s success so far and how being part of the community it serves helps it improves the lives of people with diabetes.

HME News: The diabetes market has seen rapid changes in recent years. How has Ascensia evolved alongside those changes?

Joe Delahunty: Over the last five years, we’ve seen an increase in the use of CGMs and the importance of CGM as a diabetes management tool, which is becoming the standard of care. That’s definitely a trend we’ve reacted to by entering into our agreement with Senseonics. Digital health over the last five years is also a rapidly developing area. (We launched) our Contour Diabetes app and enhanced it by adding new features that allow more sophisticated analysis of data and personalized recommendations.

HME: Ascensia participates in fundraising and awareness for diabetes, like the annual Spare a Rose Campaign. How important is it for the company to be a part of the diabetes
community?

Delahunty: It’s a big deal for us. Our employees are passionate about helping people with diabetes. It’s an important part of our culture and the advocacy and fundraising we do provide opportunities for employees to give back. Advocacy, in our view, is more than just fundraising. It’s about making sure that we help the community and have opportunities to interact with the community. That impacts product development and education initiatives, and helps us find common goals.

HME: How do you see Ascensia and diabetes technology evolving in the next five years?

Delahunty: There are more consultations being done remotely with COVID being the catalyst for people using technology to manage diabetes. We see an ongoing trend of more holistic solutions that are bringing together different parts of technologies for different parts of diabetes care. It is now much more understood you can’t treat diabetes as a standalone disease. There’s a number of factors that need to be managed. The future of diabetes management and technology is going to come by trying to bring together different parts of the puzzle. One trend is more partnerships between different companies in the industry that will come together to connect solutions, so people with diabetes see the benefit.