Eli Lilly Takes on Digital Diabetes Care Management

May 12, 2021 - Eli Lilly and Company recently signed strategic international agreements with four companies to advance connected solutions and streamline diabetes care management for individuals living with the disease outside of the US. 

The companies that are part of the agreement include DexCom, Glooko Inc, myDiabby Healthcare, and Roche. According to Eli Lilly and Company, each of these companies offer diabetes management platforms that will be compatible with Lilly’s Tempo Pen and Tempo Smart Button.

Tempo Pen is a modified version of Eli Lilly and Company’s existing prefilled disposable insulin pen and is currently approved in several global markets. Temo Button, which is in late-stage development, is able to attach to Tempo Pen. 

Through the agreements, the Tempo Start Button will pair with software and medical devices offered by the four companies through its mySugr app. 

These products facilitate personalized data with actionable insights, supporting individuals with diabetes and healthcare professionals.

"We're pleased to work alongside these innovative partners who share our commitment to improving diabetes outcomes by bringing together medicine and digital solutions for the global diabetes community," Marie Schiller, vice president of product development for connected care and insulins at Eli Lilly and Company, said in the announcement.

“By integrating data from the connected insulin pen solutions into widely used compatible software, we aim to support improved decision-making for people with diabetes and their healthcare providers with accurate, real-time data collection,” Schiller continued. 

Eli Lilly and Company said that it aims to receive CE mark for the Tempo Start Button later this year and will also launch the Tempo Pen and Tempo Start Button in various international markets following the certification. 

Tadej Battelino, head of endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism, and UCH professor at the University of Ljubljana, explained that people with diabetes need access to all information about their condition.

Eli Lilly and Company’s new agreements are the right step towards providing useful tools that can help provide real-time guidance and holistic support to ease burdens for these individuals, Battelino said. 

About 1.5 Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year. And type 2 diabetes is the most common type, accounting for nearly 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases

Eli Lilly and Company has worked in diabetes care since 1923 to meet the needs of people with diabetes, as well as those who care for them. Over the past few years, the company has launched various solutions to help individual financial circumstances of people living with diabetes.

For example, the company launched a program last April allowing anyone with or without commercial insurance to fill their monthly prescription of Lilly insulin for $35, boosting patient access to insulin products during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Diabetics who qualify for a card can receive it within 25 hours by email. If patients already own a co-pay card from Lilly for a higher amount than $35, no action is necessary. Active co-pay cards were re-set to $35 co-pay.

And seniors with Medicare Part D plans, although not eligible for a co-pay card, are eligible for other options. One of the options includes receiving donated insulin for people with lower incomes or Insulin Lispro Injection, a non-branded version of Humalog U-100 with a 50 percent lower list price. 

As a part of its most recent diabetes efforts, Eli Lilly and Company and Biolojic Design announced a research agreement to discover and develop potential novel antibody therapies for the treatment of diabetes at the end of March. 

The companies will focus on a multi-specific antibody designed to bind two or more targets at each of its arms. Fine-tuning the competition of the targets on the muti-specific antibody can produce therapies with differential activities, Eli Lilly and Company said in the announcement.