Dexcom, the company behind advanced continuous glucose monitoring devices, such as the Dexcom Platinum CGM, is developing an app to be used on Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch.
If the app receives medical device approval, it will mean that people will be able to keep an eye on their glucose levels at the turn of their wrist.
Families with type 1 diabetes don’t want to wait
Within the US, where CGMs are more common than in the UK, patient groups have been waiting many years for systems that allow children and adults to share their glucose data with their parents and partners.
Discouraged by the length of time it was taking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to grant approval to sharing apps, groups of patients developed their own digital cloud based systems for uploading and downloading glucose data. The result was the Nightscout project.
Since the Nightscout was launched, the FDA has appeared to have shown a greater sense of urgency in terms of approving diabetes sharing apps. In January 2015, the FDA approved a data sharing app by Dexcom for the iPhone.
CGMs on the NHS
Continuous glucose monitors are an excellent help for people with diabetes, particularly people with type 1 diabetes on insulin pumps or multiple injections per day (MDI), however, CGMs are not routinely available on the NHS and tend to be outside of many families’ budget.
INPUT, a patient advocacy service for people with diabetes, is one of the organisations that is campaigning to get better access to up to date diabetes technology on the NHS, such as insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring devices.

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