Abbott targets type 2 diabetes with ‘exciting year’ ahead – Drug Delivery Business News

The FreeStyle Libre 3 continuous glucose monitor. [Image courtesy of Abbott] The Diabetes business unit at Abbott (NYSE:ABT) has gotten off to a hot start in 2024, with some significant developments on the CGM front.

With the recent FDA clearance of two over-the-counter sensors following significant automated insulin pump integrations, 2024 has been full of good news for the company.

Speaking toDrug Delivery Business News at the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida, Abbott Diabetes SVP of Commercial Operations, Chris Scoggins, said the company wants to keep that momentum going.

2024 is shaping up to be an exciting year, a good year, Scoggins said. The excitement for us, at least in the U.S., is that were just pushing deeper and deeper into this really big, underserved patient population of people with type 2 diabetes.

As Abbott broadens its patient population, Scoggins said the company is reaching new channels, like primary care, benefitting more people with diabetes, namely type 2. He called it a new chapter in the brand.

Scoggins said the push for the type 2 population is an energizing endeavor.

Something thats important for everbody to understand is, we have much work to do as an industry to really bring to the type 2 population the technologies and brands that are pretty well covered and supplied into that smaller type 1 population, Scoggins explained. Its something that puts a lot of wind in our sails.

Abbott hears patient stories often, he said, highlighting how they benefit from using the FreeStyle Libre CGM platform. According to Scoggins, it helps them see things for the first time that perhaps they failed to understand before.

Using minute-by-minute glucose readings and seeing how lifestyle choices, food choices or activity impacts glucose variability provides things that were previously hidden in a 90-day HbA1c test.

You cant really see that type of variability, Scoggins said. But, when youre doing daily time in range, all of a sudden, those lifestyle choices become very real. Those are the kinds of learnings and insights that the type 2 population can really derive benefit from when using Libre.

At the start of the year, Abbott made great strides in automated insulin delivery, pairing its FreeStyle Libre 2 Plus with Insulets Omnipod 5 in Europe and announcing compatibility with the Tandem Diabetes Care t:slim X2 system in January.

Its a really important segment, Scoggins said. Theres a high medical need for people that have type 1 diabetes and use a pump.

Globally, he explained, more than half a billion people have diabetes. The vast majority fall into the type 2 category, Scoggins said. With FreeStyle Libre, he says Abbott wanted to think about the largest groups of people underserved by diabetes technology. With the push for addressing the type 2 population taking the front seat, the company has now turned some focus toward the type 1 subgroup targeted by automated insulin delivery technology makers.

Now, Scoggins says, its important that Abbott gets it right with regard to automated insulin delivery.

Right now, the company offers the FreeStyle Libre 2 plus, built on the Libre 2 platform, in the U.S. with Tandem. However, it actually started pump connectivity with Libre 3, the latest generation, in Europe, with Ypsomed and CamDiab.

Scoggins said the company feels strongly about the process of working with a pump partner to create an effectively connected, quality, regulated system that everyone feels good about, both for regulatory and technological reasons. Ultimately, the company intends to continue expanding the options for this patient base.

Were going to help the patients we serve and engender the confidence of the endocrinologist, so you know to trust Libre to connect to a pump, Scoggins explained. While we are showing up in the pump space later than some of our competitors, our intent is to not just show up, but to become the brand of choice and the standard of care.

We dont want to just show up and participate. We want to be the reference.

The launch of Lingo effectively a CGM for monitoring health and wellness outside diabetes widens the population Abbott can reach, but, in a diabetes-specific sense, the over-the-counter Libre Rio is yet another major step forward in reaching more patients.

Libre Rio provides monitoring for adults with type 2 diabetes who arent on insulin and manage diabetes through lifestyle modifications. Like the companies prescription CGMs, Libre Riowill rival Dexcoms OTC Stelo for people with type 2 diabetes who do not use insulin.

Theres not a one-product-serves-all solution that we could see meet the needs in the market, Scoggins said. Thats why we offered to separate sensors to serve both of these consumers.

As a research-driven organization, Scoggins says Abbott is always looking to build upon its platforms, like with Rio and Lingo.DVP, Technical Operations, Marc Taub, explained this innovation process last fall at DeviceTalks West.The company also continues development on afirst-of-its kind, all-in-one sensor that measures both glucose and ketone.

Scoggins said the company has been somewhat surprised by the reaction of the medical community and the interest in understanding how that sensor could help people at risk for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA).

Abbott built this sensor on the Libre 3 form factor. Scoggins said it fits with what FreeStyle Libre stands for, providing functional understanding of the variability of glucose but also visibility into the risk of ketosis. It also improves upon the existing ketone strip which Abbott offers with low utilization of that product. The convenience of having that second measure included in a glucose sensor could set the device apart.

Still in development and not at the stage of commercial discussions yet, the sensor still could garner plenty of attention. Scoggins expects rigorous clinical activity to prepare for regulatory submission and more to come on this front.

More can benefit and that interest in the multi-analyte sensor, I think its just kind of scratching the surface, Scoggins said. Theres so much more we can do.

More here:
Abbott targets type 2 diabetes with 'exciting year' ahead - Drug Delivery Business News