Abbott aims to better serve Chinese diabetics with glucose monitoring program

US-based Abbott, a global leading healthcare company, collaborated with the Beijing Medical Award Foundation to launch a demonstrative glucose monitoring program, in an effort to promote higher-quality and more intelligent diabetes management in China.

The program, namely 2021 Continuous Glucose Monitoring Center of Excellence Program, aims to promote the application of a standardized continuous glucose monitoring system in hospitals across China. The first batch of hospitals, including Tianjin Medical University Chu Hsien-I Memorial Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, and the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, were recognized as the national demonstrative continuous glucose monitoring centers. The program is set to cover hundreds of hospitals across China in three years.

Mu Yiming, professor at the First Medical Center of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, said: "Continuous glucose monitoring lays a solid foundation for intelligent diabetes management. Abbott's innovative technology enables patients to manage their conditions more accurately and lower the risk of complications, helping to improve diabetes management. The program will help promote the practice of sensor-based glucose monitoring in hospitals and contribute to standardized management across the entire process of treatment and hospitalization."

Diabetes is a major challenge for China's public health. According to the 2020 China Guideline for Type 2 Diabetes launched by the Chinese Diabetes Society, currently, China has become the country with the largest diabetic population, and the morbidity among people aged above 18 was 11.2 percent. China's average annual spending on diabetes reached 621 billion yuan ($95.9 billion), and that of complications associated with diabetes was nearly 593 billion yuan.

Jerry Guo, general manager of Diabetes Care at Abbott China, said: "The program will enable Abbott to work with BMAF and major hospitals in China to standardize continuous glucose monitoring."

"Our world-leading FreeStyle Libre technology provides both individuals and hospitals with technology to manage diabetes accurately and intelligently that ultimately leads to better health outcomes. We will continue to optimize the FreeStyle Libre ecosystem to create a more comprehensive diabetes management solution to address the unmet needs of Chinese patients," he said.

For more than 130 years, Abbott has been actively exploring innovative solutions for disease management, offering convenient and effective glucose monitoring products to both patients and medical institutions. Currently, its FreeStyle Libre system has entered hospitals in large and medium-sized cities in 28 provinces, covering tens of thousands of diabetes patients.

In the future, the company will continue to make technological innovations, to bring scientific and effective disease management solutions to more diabetes patients, satisfying their needs while promoting China's development in diabetes prevention, diagnosis and management, Abbott said.