Diabetes Care: Improving the Lives of People with Diabetes
What is Diabetes?Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin – the hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food and energy for daily life. There are two common forms of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. Patients with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, occurs when the body cannot use the insulin it produces, or does not produce enough insulin. |
FreeStyle NavigatorOur innovative continuous monitoring system is the subject of an Abbott Feature. |
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Living with diabetes should not have to be painful, inconvenient or uncertain. That’s why our researchers work hard to develop and market blood glucose monitoring systems that are easier to use, require smaller blood samples and provide faster results. Our systems are used in both home and hospital settings around the world to help people better manage their diabetes.
Innovative Solutions in Diabetes Management
Our scientists have developed unique technologies – used in our FreeStyle® and Precision® families of blood glucose monitors – that allow for smaller blood sample sizes and more accurate readings, as well as flexibility in testing sites on the body:
Coulometry
Coulometry is a unique electrochemical measurement technique employed
exclusively in our FreeStyle blood glucose monitoring systems. Coulometry
offers some important advantages over other traditional glucose measurement
techniques, in that it enables accurate glucose measurements using a very small
blood sample size – a blood drop the size of a pin head (0.3 microliter). It
also allows systems that employ this technology to be less sensitive to other
external factors such as temperature and interfering substances. Coulometry
represents the next generation in blood glucose monitoring technology and it is
used in all of Abbott’s FreeStyle glucose monitoring products.
TrueMeasure® Technology
Accurate and reliable blood glucose monitoring with our Precision brand of
blood glucose monitoring systems is made possible with our TrueMeasure®
Technology. This unique scientific approach involves a special glucose-specific
chemistry that includes the glucose dehydrogenase enzyme, NAD cofactor and PQ
mediator (GDH-NAD/PQ). It ensures minimal measurement bias from oxygen,
hematocrit and other physiological variables. TrueMeasure Technology minimizes
the effects of interfering substances and also ensures that the test only
starts once a sufficient blood sample is applied to the strip, minimizing error
messages and repeat tests.
The Future of Diabetes Care
We are looking to the future in diabetes management with the development of two next-generation systems. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the FreeStyle Navigator, a continuous monitoring system designed to discreetly and continuously measure glucose levels through a sensor in the back of the upper arm or abdomen. This system includes a disposable sensor that can be worn for up to five days, then replaced; a transmitter with a 10-foot wireless range and a pager-sized receiver. It transmits glucose readings once per minute and provides a warning (an alarm) before glucose levels become too high or too low.
Also in development is an all-in-one blood glucose monitoring system that is designed to combine a glucose meter, test strips and lancing capabilities in one device, enabling simple point-and-click testing.
Wired Enzyme technology supports the accuracy of the investigational system (under FDA review, see above). Designed to offer reliable and accurate sensor readings, this technology offers a stable signal, minimal sensitivity to interferents and minimal oxygen dependence.
Learn more about Abbott Diabetes Care.
