Diabetes management is complex, and the need to regularly monitor blood glucose levels and take steps to keep them in a specific range may impact the daily lives and social activities of people with diabetes’ (PwD). In recent years, digital health solutions such as connected devices, software and apps have offered to address fundamental challenges of measuring and managing glucose levels. Nevertheless, the unmet need for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes remains high and achieving glycemic control through consistent and optimized insulin use is difficult and time-consuming, significantly restricting daily life. Consequently, suboptimal insulin use persists and is widespread among PwD.
This report reviews the unmet needs of PwD and takes a look at how smart insulin pens can address some of the difficulties of self-management and improve outcomes. It identifies and assesses the three main challenges that need to be overcome in order for smart pens to reach their full potential for PwD:Finally, this report reviews the systematic strategies that policymakers, regulators, payers, manufacturers, physicians, and patient advocacy groups can take to advance diabetes care and bring innovative solutions to people with diabetes.
At present, however, access to innovative solutions such as smart pens is limited to small patient segments. The main driver for broad access is reimbursement by public healthcare systems, which in turn strongly depends on and solution’s ability to demonstrate robust evidence of its value.