Sanofi, Innovation Health Launch Pilot Program in Diabetes Care Delivery

Innovation Health, a venture of the insurer Aetna and the Inova Health System of Northern Virginia, has joined with the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to launch a pilot program for a digital health solution for people living with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

OneDrop, a mobile blood glucose monitoring system that stores data in the cloud, and Gocap, which logs insulin doses, are partners in the program, according to a statement from Innovation Health. Gocap is a product of Common Sensing.

“As a leader in diabetes, our ambition is to empower people with diabetes to live the life they want,” said Vice President of Innovative Solutions of US Diabetes and Cardiovascular at Sanofi, Sebastien Coisne.

“We believe that combining innovative medicines with connected devices and solutions leads to better patient outcomes and an improved patient experience,” he said. “As innovative solutions come to market, we are very excited to work with Innovation Health on this pilot program and trust it will provide further insights to achieve that goal.”

Tech partnerships in diabetes care, including investments by payers in startup diabetes management companies, are increasingly common as established stakeholders seek ways to use patient data to improve outcomes and hold down costs. The announcement stated that this pilot will help all the partners understand the best way to set up industry arrangements in diabetes care. It will be facilitated by Innovation Health, Inova Health Systems, and Healthhagen, a division of Aetna.

Several partners in the pilot are involved in other ventures with product, tech, or provider companies to pursue the deployment of patient data in diabetes care. One Drop and MannKind, maker of the inhaled insulin Afrezza, are taking part in a study together; Sanofi has a well-publicized partnership with Google’s Verily to launch a diabetes management platform; and Aetna recently announced an outcomes-based partnership with Medtronic, which is launching the MiniMed 670G, the first diabetes device to earn the FDA’s “artificial pancreas” designation. Sanofi, Common Sensing, and Joslin Diabetes Center were partners for a clinical trial of Gocap.