New mobile platform for self-management of diabetes unveiled

A new cloud-based mobile health platform that allows people with diabetes to manage their condition from their mobile handsets has been unveiled today.
Developed by New York-based LabStyle Innovations, the Dario iOS mobile app offers easy, instant and in real-time monitoring of blood sugar levels and also provides users with helpful insights and tips on what actions to take, based on their reading.
The app works with the ‘all-in-one’, pocket-sized Dario blood glucose monitoring device, which comes with a lancet, test strips and a meter that connects to the user’s smartphone, and a website application enabling patients, health professionals and carers to access the blood glucose data.
Users will also be able to link the app to any glucose monitoring device by manually feeding in the information, and over the longer term, the platform is expected to be able to integrate with insulin delivery and other diabetes devices.
Dr. Oren Fuerst, executive chairman and co-founder of LabStyle, said: “Dario is the next generation in advanced diabetes self-management. It leverages the potential and the many benefits of the mobile age and current online practices.
“Unlike older devices which solely checked glucose levels, or existing competition that may or may not link glucose monitoring with an app or the cloud, we believe that Dario is the only end-to-end mobile health platform that will be able to offer and encourage people living with diabetes a way to really understand and control their disease.”
The Dario platform will be released in the UK, Australia and New Zealand early next month, with a soft European launch of its own monitoring device expected in the first quarter of 2014. The app will initially only be available to download on smartphones running Apple’s iOS software, but there are plans to release an Android-compatible version too.
“This is a very exciting time in the evolution of LabStyle,” commented Erez Raphael, the company’s president and CEO. “We are looking forward to achieving several important milestones in the coming months and to providing those in the diabetes community with a new way to approach and better manage their condition.”