Patent allowance granted for diabetes decision-support tool

The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent allowance for two dozen mechanisms behind a new diabetes decision-support tool to aid in insulin and non-insulin dosing, Glytec announced in a press release.

The 24 mechanisms behind Therapy Advisor, a computer-guided decision-support tool still in development, are described as aiding personalized, computer-guided selection and dosing of any prescribed diabetes therapy regimen, including insulins, oral therapies, non-insulin injectables and combination therapies.

“Evidence shows that providers demonstrate wide variation in the choice and sequence of diabetes medications, and in spite of some 100 medications currently available in the U.S. to treat diabetes, only about half of all patients with diabetes achieve their treatment goals,” Andrew S. Rhinehart, MD, chief medical officer at Glytec, said in the release. “We are developing solutions that will remove the guesswork and make it much simpler for providers to identify what will work best for each individual patient, ultimately helping root out billions of dollars in wasted pharmaceutical expense and driving better outcomes.”

According to the release, the new patent allowance depicts a system in which a dosing controller comprising data processing hardware in communication with memory hardware obtains training data for a plurality of patients of a patient population. Those data include blood glucose history, treatment doses of insulin and/or non-insulin diabetes medications administered, outcome attributes associated with each of the treatment doses, HbA1c measurements, and patient-state information. The data processing hardware identifies the optimal treatment dose, or dose-combination of insulin and/or non-insulin diabetes medications, for each patient in the training patient population based on the treatment dose or dose-combination of insulin and/or non-insulin diabetes medications yielding favorable outcome attributes.

The data processing hardware recommends a treatment dose, based on the optimal treatment for similar patients in the training patient population. The next recommended treatment dose is transmitted to a portable device or to an administration device, such as an insulin pump.

“Providers who care for patients with diabetes in the outpatient setting, particularly general and family practitioners, are challenged every day with decisions surrounding medication regimens,” Bob Leonard, president and CEO of Glytec, said in the release. “There are literally thousands of possible combinations. We have contemplated not only the clinical variables that impact medication optimization, but also the social determinants of health, with consideration given to patient preferences and lifestyle, including affordability.”

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Leonard added that the Therapy Advisor tool will help facilitate the intensification and deintensification of medication regimens, including transitions on and off insulin.

Similar decision-support tools for clinicians and patients have been highlighted at recent diabetes meetings for their ability to reach more patients in the most effective manner. During a presentation at the 2017 American Association of Diabetes Educators annual meeting in August covered by Endocrine Today, Chris Bergstrom, MBA, digital health lead for Boston Consulting Group, said that new trends like mobile prescription therapy and FDA-cleared software solutions, sometimes requiring a prescription, provide patient-level decision support via mobile devices. Companies like New Hampshire-based SilverCloud are already delivering mobile prescription therapy, or MPT, in several disease areas, including mental health and diabetes, Bergstrom said.

“We’ve turned software into a drug,” Bergstrom said during the presentation. “It’s recommended as a line of treatment. It works. And it’s paid for. It’s neat to see our organizations, the AADE, the ADA, recognize that we now have new tools like this.” – by Regina Schaffer