Glytec Developing Solution for Selection and Dosing of All Diabetes Medications

In spite of greater than 80 medications currently available in the United States to treat diabetes, less than half of the estimated 22 million people prescribed one or more are maintaining blood sugar levels within the acceptable range.^1-3 The consequences not only impact health status and quality of life, they add to the growing economic burden of diabetes estimated in 2017 at $327 billion.³ With multiple patent allowances for its novel Therapy Advisor software-as-a-medical-device and active engagement in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) process, Glytec is poised to improve these clinical and financial outcomes by helping providers more easily and efficaciously select and dose all varieties of diabetes medications. No solution of like kind is currently available, Therapy Advisor will be the first.
 
Therapy Advisor will expand the breadth of Glytec’s proprietary eGlycemic Management System, or eGMS, a provider-directed enterprise solution for diabetes therapy management and medication optimization that serves patients across the entire continuum of care: inpatient, outpatient and virtual settings.
 
“For primary care providers, diabetes can be an extremely challenging condition to manage. When it comes to diabetes medications, there are literally tens of thousands of possible combinations. Choosing what’s best for any one patient is a daunting task,” said Glytec’s Chief Medical Officer and diabetologist, Andrew Rhinehart, M.D., FACP, FACE, CDE, BC-ADM. “With Therapy Advisor, providers will have evidence-based guidance on which diabetes medications are most likely to be successful for a patient, with consideration given to relevant clinical variables and personal preferences, including affordability. When appropriate, this can be used for purposes of patient engagement and shared decision-making.”
 
The American Diabetes Association reports that an estimated $31 billion is spent annually on insulin and other antidiabetic agents.³ Determining the best medication or combination of medications for a patient with diabetes can be a months-long process of trial and error, which on a national scale translates to billions of dollars in wasted pharmaceutical expense. Hospitals, health systems and ACOs with value-based and alternative reimbursement contracts will have tremendous difficulty preserving already-slim margins if action is not taken to reverse course. The same is true for health plans.
 
“Therapy Advisor will remove the guesswork and make it much simpler for providers,” explained Rhinehart, “and with an abundance of evidence indicating wide variation in the choice and sequence of diabetes medications, Therapy Advisor will help providers overcome therapeutic inertia and allow them to achieve the kind of standardization and personalization that drives high-quality, high-reliability care and better outcomes.”
 
Therapy Advisor also promises to deliver a far better patient experience. Glytec’s head of research and development, Robby Booth, explained: “Patients will sometimes change the frequency or dose of their diabetes medications because they’re just not getting good results. Or, they may not fill one or more of their scripts because the prescribed regimen is not well-tailored to their lifestyle. We’ve designed Therapy Advisor to account not only for demographic and clinical data, such as age, renal state, BMI, type of diabetes and A1C, but also for experiential data that factors in specific patient preferences. If a patient is on a weight loss program, for example, Therapy Advisor will allow for the exclusion of medications with known side effects of weight gain. Or, if a patient has a cognitive impairment, such as dementia, Therapy Advisor will allow for the exclusion of a more complex regimen that could prove confusing. Through a process of directed questioning, Therapy Advisor will lead the provider to two treatment alternatives and will specify the pros and cons of each. This will truly be a game changer.”
 
Therapy Advisor incorporates guidelines authored by the American Diabetes Association, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, American College of Endocrinology, and European Association for the Study of Diabetes.^4-6 In addition to formulating recommendations on medication type, dose and frequency for any one or more insulin and non-insulin options, Therapy Advisor will also help facilitate the intensification and deintensification of medication regimens, including transitions on and off of insulin.

“Patients who aren’t helped by the medications they’ve been prescribed ultimately consume more healthcare resources and incur significantly higher healthcare costs,” Rhinehard added. “These patients are hospitalized more often, have more trips to emergency departments and urgent care centers, and develop more concomitant conditions. They deserve better. Therapy Advisor is positioned to support our nation’s providers in delivering safer, more efficacious diabetes care, and the cost savings will follow.” 

Founded in 2006, Glytec develops digital therapeutics, improving the lives of people with diabetes by making insulin a more effective and accessible option for millions unable to achieve their treatment goals. The company’s patented eGlycemic Management System is the only FDA-cleared software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD) platform to enable the mass personalization of insulin across the continuum of care: inpatient, outpatient and virtual settings alike. Glytec offers several comprehensive programs combining evidence-based decision support technologies with expert professional services proven to aid providers in achieving best practices and standardization while reducing hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, A1C, readmissions, length of stay and cost. The company has offices in Waltham, Mass., and Greenville, S.C.

^References
1 Diabetes in America, 3rd Edition, Chapter 39: Medication Use and Self-Care Practices in Persons with Diabetes. National Institutes of Health, NIH Pub No. 17-1468, 2018.
² Carls G, Huynh J, Tuttle E, Yee J, Edelman S. Achievement of glycated hemoglobin goals in the U.S. remains unchanged through 2014. Diabetes Ther. 2017 Aug;8(4):863-873.
³ American Diabetes Association. Economic costs of diabetes in the U.S. in 2017. Diabetes Care. 2018 May;41(5):917-928.
⁴ American Diabetes Association. Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes – 2019. Diabetes Care. 2019 Jan;42(Suppl 1).
⁵ Garber A, et al. Consensus Statement by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology on the Comprehensive Type 2 Diabetes Management Algorithm – 2019 Executive Summary. Endocr Pract. 2019;25:69-100.
⁶ Davies MJ, et al. Management of Hyperglycemia in Type 2 Diabetes, 2018. A Consensus Report by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Diabetes Care. 2018 Dec;41(12):2669-2701.