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FDA approves mobile app for Freestyle Libre

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The FDA approved a mobile app for use with the Freestyle Libre 10-day and 14-day glucose monitoring systems, allowing patients with diabetes to monitor glucose readings on their compatible iPhone devices, Abbott announced in a press release.

The FreeStyle LibreLink app enables users to hold their iPhone near their FreeStyle Libre or FreeStyle Libre 14-day sensor to instantly capture and view their real-time glucose levels, assess their 8-hour glucose history, and see a directional arrow indicating how their glucose is changing, according to the release. The FreeStyle LibreLink app also includes a series of in-app reports that visualize trends and patterns to help patients understand how well they are controlling their glucose.

“We’re committed to liberating people from the many hassles of diabetes management through our life-changing technology and tools,” Jared Watkin, senior vice president of Diabetes Care at Abbott, said in the release. “The FreeStyle LibreLink app is a digital health tool that integrates glucose data directly on a compatible smartphone so all of the mobile apps that people use every day are in one convenient place. This is another step forward in making glucose monitoring seamlessly fit into a patient’s daily lifestyle — helping them live a fuller, healthier life.”

According to the press release, The FreeStyle LibreLink app has several new features as compared with the FreeStyle Libre and FreeStyle Libre 14-day readers, including a larger, high-resolution display, text-to-speech capabilities for glucose readings (when enabled), the ability to log smaller doses of insulin (0.1 U vs. 0.5 U), and support for 26 languages.

FreeStyle LibreLink users also have the option to automatically share their glucose information with their health care professional and caregivers.

FreeStyle LibreLink app will be free to download through the Apple App Store in the coming weeks, according to Abbott. Once available, patients will be able to pair the FreeStyle Libre or FreeStyle Libre 14-day sensors with the app. The Android version of the app is currently under development.

As Endocrine Today previously reported, the FDA in July approved the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system, which allows patients with diabetes to wear the sensor up to 14 days with high accuracy. That approval made Abbott’s continuous glucose monitor the longest-lasting, self-applied personal glucose sensor available on the market, with improved accuracy and reduced warmup time. The FDA approved a 10-day version of the CGM system in September 2017, making it the first CGM system in the U.S. that did not require finger-stick calibration for adults with diabetes.

The FreeStyle LibreLink app is compatible with near-field communication (NFC)-enabled phones on Apple’s iPhone 7 and later, running iOS 11 and later. – by Regina Schaffer

Disclosure: Watkin is an employee of Abbott.