It has been five years since Ascensia Diabetes Care was spun off from Bayer. During this time, the company has achieved several important milestones including the introduction of the Contour Next One meter and the Contour Plus One app, as well as entering the growing CGM space through a partnership with Senseonics to distribute the Eversense implantable system . Today the company estimates it provides 10 million people with diabetes testing materials every day, and its app has been downloaded more than 1.3 million times.
“As an independent company, we have invested in things that matter to people with diabetes,” said Joe Delahunty, global director of communications for Ascensia Diabetes Care. “We have focused our efforts and resources on innovation where we are wanted to.”
Delahunty recently spoke to HME News about Ascensia’s success to date and how it improves the lives of people with diabetes to be part of the community it serves.
HME News: The diabetes market has changed rapidly in recent years. How has Ascensia performed alongside these changes?
Joe Delahunty: Over the past five years, the use of CGMs has increased and the importance of CGM as a diabetes treatment tool that is becoming the standard of care has increased. We have definitely responded to this trend by signing our agreement with Senseonics. Digital health over the past five years is also a rapidly evolving area. (We launched our Contour Diabetes app) and expanded it with new functions that enable more differentiated analysis of data and personalized recommendations.
HME: Ascensia participates in diabetes fundraising and awareness raising such as the annual Spare a Rose campaign. How important is it for the company to be part of diabetes?
Community?
Delahunty: It’s a big deal for us. Our employees are passionate about helping people with diabetes. This is an important part of our culture and the advocacy and fundraising we offer our employees to give back. From our point of view, advocacy is more than just fundraising. It’s about making sure we’re helping the community and having the opportunity to interact with the community. This affects product development and education initiatives and helps us find common goals.
HME: How do you see Ascensia and Diabetes technology evolving over the next five years?
Delahunty: More remote consultations are being held, with COVID being the catalyst for people using technology to treat diabetes. We see an ongoing trend towards more holistic solutions that bring together different pieces of technology for different pieces of diabetes care. It is much clearer now that you cannot treat diabetes as a disease on its own. There are a number of factors that need to be managed. The future of diabetes management and technology will come from trying to put different pieces of the puzzle together. A trend is more partnerships between different companies in the industry coming together to connect solutions so that people with diabetes can see the benefits.
