Medtronic has received CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark for its new Guardian Connect mobile continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system for people with diabetes using insulin injection therapy. Guardian Connect is the first smartphone-enabled CGM system from Medtronic to receive CE Mark and further demonstrates the company’s intent to provide solutions for people across the diabetes care continuum. The system will be launched on a country-by-country basis in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, beginning with select countries in Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.
With Guardian Connect, people on insulin injections will be able to check their current glucose level anytime on their mobile device, as easily as checking other information sources such as email, the weather or social media. They can also be alerted of high and low glucose levels on their mobile device, helping them confidently avoid or address high and low glucose situations. Guardian Connect is the first and only mobile CGM system with customizable SMS text alerts enabling care partners to receive high and low glucose alerts on any connected mobile device. The system also features the option to automatically upload the data daily into CareLink therapy management software, which reduces the burden of data upload for both people on insulin injection therapy as well as their healthcare providers.
The Guardian Connect system consists of a small wearable CGM device that takes glucose readings every five minutes (288 times a day) and sends these glucose values directly to a smartphone app. People on insulin injection therapy can use the system to check glucose levels on their mobile phones, enabling them to see highs and lows in real-time, understand the trends and help improve their daily management of diabetes. Alerts can also be set up if glucose levels go above or below preset levels, helping patients prevent or address potentially dangerous high and low glucose events. All of this information can be shared with care partners via SMS text messages and via access to the real-time CGM tracing from any web-enabled device. In addition, healthcare providers can leverage automatic daily data uploads via CareLink.
The Guardian Connect smartphone app will initially be available with iOS devices. Medtronic is currently developing an Android version of the Guardian Connect app for release at a later date. The Guardian Connect system is not yet available for sale in the United States.
