Crushing it? For the diabetes herd, technology is path forward

I got my first COVID vaccination in early April and immediately slacked my co-workers to share an image of my “Crushing COVD-19” sticker. Along with the obligatory congratulatory emojis, came the obligatory jokes about government chips and tracking.

As a person with diabetes, I’m used to tracking. I track my numbers, my insulin doses and my carbs. In turn, my Freestyle Libre sensor tracks me and sends data wirelessly to the Diabetes Center from my iPhone (no more arriving at an appointment and realizing I forgot my logbook, which was usually half-assed the night before).

So yeah, tracking? Bring it!

I’ve had the pleasure recently of making the phone interview rounds of leaders in the diabetes tech space, which, in case you hadn’t heard, is quite exciting these days. They’re excited; I’m excited.

Glooko, which landed on the front cover of our May issue, saw its remote monitoring business take off in 2020. The company also has a history of strong partnerships with others in the space.

“We’re the connective tissue across the diabetes ecosystem,” Russ Johannesson told me. “I think the companies that are having an impact in this space see the value of interoperability and shared connectivity.” 

I also spoke recently with Joe Delahunty at Ascensia about the proliferation of CGMs in the past five years and where he anticipates diabetes tech is headed in the next five.

“We see an ongoing trend of more holistic solutions that are bringing together different parts of technologies for different parts of diabetes care,” he said.

See? Just like humanity, it’s all connected. It’s the only way forward. I, for one, am glad that, at least in the diabetes space, tech companies – and people with diabetes – have a choice NOT to just let the chips fall where they may.