Merck's introduction of a mobile app for patients with Type 2 diabetes (Vree) is an innovative way to manage the disease. A more recent announcement last week reminded me of Merck's introduction of the mobile app - a report that half the country could have diabetes by 2020, with costs totaling $3.35 trillion over the next decade if trends continue.
Our country is clearly in need of an increase in methods for diabetes prevention (it has been coined an epidemic since the 90s), but we also need new ideas for empowering patients who are already living with the disease to manage it well. Mobile apps such as the one created by Merck are a useful tool I expect to see much more of in our digital age.
Also in September, Denmark's Novo Nordisk introduced a mobile insulin dosing guide for physicians to look up dosing guidelines and blood glucose goals for diabetic patients (NovoDose).
What is most interesting to me about these tools is that they are representative of a larger role movement in the pharma industry from drug manufacturing to patient health management - a much more holistic, patient-centered approach that expands the expectations society has on pharma companies. Leading companies will not only have to continuously improve insights into patient populations for more targeted treatments, but will also be held accountable for increased compliance with those treatments and for coming up with novel ways to better manage patient health outside of medication. Put another way, IBM predicts a movement from "treating the patient" to the "health of a person."
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