Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that its Accu-Chek® SmartGuide continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) solution is now available in South Africa. This significant milestone means that people living with diabetes over the age of 18 can now benefit from the solution’s enhanced glucose monitoring and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled predictive insights1,2.
Diabetes is one of today’s most urgent healthcare challenges. In South Africa, 4.2 million people are living with the condition as of 2024 3. If left unmanaged, diabetes can lead to secondary complications including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, blindness, lower limb amputation and mental health issues4. In a study conducted by GWI in partnership with Roche, 58% of people living with diabetes stated that they feel a mental burden associated with managing their diabetes.
Since it was introduced, CGM technology has significantly improved diabetes care5, yet a significant number of people still have difficulty keeping their glucose in the right range when using current systems.6 Hypoglycemia is common amongst persons who have type 1 diabetes, with an annual incidence of severe hypoglycemia ranging from 3.3% to 13.5%.7
“The Accu-Chek SmartGuide CGM solution is a significant step towards providing greater peace of mind for people living with diabetes, due to the AI-enabled predictive capabilities it offers. This empowers patients to take action before undesired events occur,” said Merilynn Steenkamp, General Manager, Southern Africa, Roche Diagnostics. “Our new Accu-Chek SmartGuide® CGM solution puts the power of prediction into the hands of people living with diabetes with its integrated AI-enabled algorithms that predict glucose levels for the next 2 hours as well as imminent and nocturnal hypoglycaemia. People with diabetes should have the freedom to plan the day ahead and get a good night’s sleep at the end of it all.”
Nighttime hypoglycemia can present a particular challenge for people with diabetes. Approximately 2-5% of deaths in people with type 1 diabetes under the age of 40 are due to episodes of very low glucose during the night8,9. The unpleasant symptoms and negative consequences of hypoglycemia can result in actual fear of hypoglycemia with possible significant implications for the diabetes management, metabolic control and subsequent health outcomes.10
The Accu-Chek SmartGuide® CGM solution uses AI-enabled algorithms to predict where an individual’s glucose levels are likely headed in the next 30 minutes, 2 hours, and even overnight. This means people with diabetes can move from a reactive to a proactive approach to their daily management, preparing for and managing potential episodes in advance, rather than waiting for alerts when they happen.
The Accu-Chek SmartGuide® CGM solution includes a wireless, water-resistant sensor, worn on the back of the upper arm, and the apps where the users can see their current glucose levels and their future glucose development through predictive analytics. Every five minutes, the sensor sends glucose values measured in real-time to the Accu-Chek SmartGuide app. The Accu-Chek SmartGuide® predict app then uses those glucose values and other optional information entered by the user such as food intake and insulin doses to detect patterns and predict future glucose levels. Supported by AI-trained algorithms, it provides key predictions of likely hypoglycaemia within 30 minutes as well as general estimated predictions of glucose levels within 2 hours and during a defined 7-hours nighttime period.11
Clinical studies have demonstrated the new Roche CGM solution’s high system accuracy, with an overall mean absolute relative difference (MARD) of 9.2% and 99.8% of measured glucose values falling within zones A and B on the Parkes Error Grid.1, 12 The evaluation of the predictive capabilities showed that all advanced predictive features exceeded high performance requirements as e.g. accuracy, sensitivity and specificity.13
Roche is committed to bringing improved and proactive relief to diabetes management across South Africa with the immediate availability of the Accu-Chek SmartGuide® CGM solution.
