The Future is in Health Solutions

Q: How does Roche Diabetes Care ensure the highest innovation and quality in its products?
A: Roche Diabetes Care is transforming from being a provider of individual products to generating a value proposition based on services. Although Roche Diabetes Care has offered for many years hardware solutions of medical devices to both the public and private sectors, today it combines this with integrated and tailor-made health management software. This implies personal disease management based on our three pillars: hardware, such as glucometers; digital tools, such as the mySugr app and a digital platform for health professionals and payers to manage the patient.
Diabetes is a disease that has an extended social context. Through these services, patients have integral control of their health, from their nutrition, exercise and education regarding their treatment and its management.
Q: What incentives or mechanisms would increase innovation in medical devices for diabetes management?
A: Diabetes in Mexico is a severe disease with a prevalence of 13 to 14 percent in a population of about 130 million people. This means there are almost 15 million people living with diabetes. More than half of the people are not diagnosed and of those diagnosed, only 5 percent are undergoing treatment.
Roche Diabetes Care has now brought a new pilot product to the Mexican market called SugarView. The idea of ​​this product is to measure sugar levels without a medical device and through an intelligent photograph of a test strip with a blood sample. A pilot test is being done with 1,000 patients and Mexico has become an important ally for the company. This product is designed to be a much more effective, less invasive and more cost-efficient solution for patients.
Q: What mechanism could help reduce the country’s diabetes burden?
A: Beyond encouraging technology penetration in the market, the main focus should be on providing proper information about health management through technology. It is important that professionals in charge of people’s health have constant training on how to make the most of technology. The best technology is that with well-known benefits and that is used to its full capacity. Roche Diabetes Care continually supports health professionals, including doctors, nurses, technicians and other experts in knowing how to use these devices to ensure maximum benefits.
Digital platforms are also important to support healthcare, as these provide appropriate, orderly and transparent patient management with efficient follow-up. Similarly, value-added services, such as nutritional and lifestyle support are as important as an individual performing regular glucose checks. Health is a topic that covers different aspects of a person’s life, which is why health solutions must be comprehensive.
Q: What are Roche Diabetes Care’s plans for the near term?
A: Traditionally, Roche Diabetes Care has had a strong focus on the commercialization of medical devices, such as glucometers, test strips and capillary devices. Starting in 2019, as part of our goal of offering a comprehensive health solution to patients with diabetes, the company is launching several new solutions in the market. The first is an insulin pump called Accu-Chek Combo, which integrates a microinfuser, a measurer and software in a discreet and safe piece of equipment.
In mid-2018, Roche began working on introducing a product called Eversense, the first implantable sensor for six-month use. Eversense is indicated for the continuous measurement of glucose levels in interstitial fluid in adults through a removable transmitter and a smartphone application. With this system, patients can improve management of their diabetes and glucose levels. The Eversense app allows the user to check glucose concentrations in real time and see how levels are evolving. It also stores data and shares it in the cloud so it can be accessed by care providers.