Smarter insights with the Sugar.IQ™ diabetes assistant

Sugar IQ app

Two weeks ago, we announced the FDA approval of an all new Smart CGM, the Guardian™ Connect system. With this approval, we also announced that the Guardian™ Connect standalone CGM system will have exclusive access to the Sugar.IQ™ diabetes assistant. For a deeper dive, we asked Huzefa Neemuchwala, our Senior Director of Data and Informatics Innovation to help break things down for you. 

I’m extremely excited to bring the Sugar.IQ™ diabetes assistant to people living with diabetes who are on multiple daily injections (MDI). This tool is used to supercharge your understanding of everything that affects your diabetes – which we all know can be a lot. What you have to eat, if you’re sick, what the weather is outside, how stressed you are – all of these things impact your day when you’re living with diabetes. That’s why we partnered with IBM Watson to bring the same groundbreaking technology that is used to predict global weather patterns to people living with diabetes, so you can worry less and get personalized insights when they matter. You now have the powers of Watson working to uncover patterns that you may have never even noticed. 

Uncovering Hidden Insights 

The Sugar.IQ™ assistant helps uncover patterns that are affecting your glucose levels. You might find out that you typically go low on Saturday mornings. This insight would then allow you to ask yourself what you do differently on Saturdays than other days of the week. In this case, you go to the park with your kids! Have you ever noticed that you leave the park day feeling more drained than usual? It's likely that all those piggyback rides, make your glucose drop. That kind of “exercise” might not have been as obvious to you as a trip to the gym. 

Or maybe you have an inkling that you tend to over treat when you go high? With the Sugar.IQ™ assistant you can get an insight that specifically tells you that when your glucose goes above 200 mg/dL you then tend to go low – letting you know when your glucose hits a certain limit you’re more likely to overtreat. The Sugar.IQ™ assistant spots these patterns and gives you the confidence you need to make changes to help you feel better. 

Conquering Foods with Glycemic Assist 

Everything you eat or drink can impact your glucose and how you feel. With Glycemic Assist you can follow entire meals and macronutrients (all those things in the meal – carbs, protein, fat, etc.). The Sugar.IQ™ assistant will automatically store your glucose response graph every time you log that meal. This allows you to see your glucose graph every time that you ate those chicken tacos. Armed with a detailed view showing the effect on your levels, you can more easily tweak your regimen and enjoy the foods you love without dealing with the aftermath of diabetes.  

 Staying in the Know with My Data 

Some of the early feedback we received from the Sugar.IQ™ assistant, was that a favorite section was My Data. Within this section you have the ability to see how much time you’ve spent below 70 mg/dL or above 180 mg/dL and exactly how many hyper or hypos you’ve experienced. This can be seen daily, weekly, monthly or even over the past three months. It’s a great snapshot to make things meaningful so that you have data to arm your decisions. 

While there is so much more I could go over with the Sugar.IQ™ assistant, my hope is that I’ve given you a snapshot of how it might help you make better diabetes management decisions. And more importantly, all of these new insights will allow you to take a more detailed look at your diabetes so you can talk with your doctor about adjustments. 

I look forward to providing more updates to the Sugar.IQ™ assistant. We’re already working on what’s next to create an even more meaningful experience. It’s also important for us to know what’s important to you. Tell us in the comments below what insights and information you’d like to see in future versions of the Sugar.IQ™ assistant? 

In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more, visit: www.medtronicdiabetes.com/S.IQ™ 

Have specific questions or want to give us feedback on what should be included next with the Sugar.IQ™ assistant? Join us for a special Facebook Live with Huzefa, next Wednesday, April 4th at 3pm PST/6pm EST. 

Important Safety Information 

The Guardian™ Connect system requires a prescription and is indicated for continuous or periodic monitoring of glucose levels in the interstitial fluid under the skin, in patients (14 to 75 years of age) with diabetes mellitus.  The system is intended to complement, not replace, information obtained from standard blood glucose monitoring devices, and is not recommended for people who are unwilling or unable to perform a minimum of two meter blood glucose tests per day, or for people who are unable or unwilling to maintain contact with their healthcare professional. The system requires a functioning mobile electronic device with correct settings. If the mobile device is not set up or used correctly, you may not receive sensor glucose information or alerts. For complete details of the system and its components, including warnings, contraindications, and precautions, please consult the user guide at http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/support/download-library/user-guides and www.medtronicdiabetes.com/importantsafetyinformation

The Sugar.IQ™ app (MMT-8100) helps manage diabetes by facilitating the logging and display of meal entries and sensor glucose (SG) data, tracking meal log entries, reporting insights of how meals affect glucose levels, and supporting good choices and trends with motivational messages. The app serves as an additional display for real-time CGM data from the Guardian™ . 

Connect system through the CareLink™ Personal software. It is not intended to provide medical advice and should not be relied upon for such purpose. The app is not intended to replace the real-time display of the CGM data on the Guardian™ Connect app, control any functions of the connecting device, calculate insulin or other drug doses, or modify data or control functions of the Guardian Connect system. All therapy decisions should be made by the app user based on blood glucose (BG) measurements obtained from a BG meter. Changes to treatment should only be made in consultation with a healthcare professional (HCP). For complete details, consult the user guide at http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/download-library.

 

Related Articles

About Author

Blog comments

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Will Sugar.IQ work with the 670G pump and sensor, or only with the Guardian Connect system?

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Hi Karen. The Sugar.IQ diabetes assistant will only work with the Guardian Connect CGM.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Can you explain why the app will not work with the 670G? It seems like being able to use it is a no-brainer whether you're on MDI or not.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Justin, great question! The transmitters for our Guardian Connect and MiniMed 670G systems have different wireless connections and communicate on different frequencies. We realize connectivity benefits are an important feature for all of our products and we have a team working hard to bring this to our pump systems. At this time, we don’t have a timeline to share but will make sure to update our community as soon as we can.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Can anyone please advise why my daughter who has been diabetic for over 39 years is having her Prior Approval done by a "group" of people who work for Medtronic and we seem to be at a stand still since her Sales Rep has seemed to convince her diabetic doctor we should not even try to find out what our 20% would be going through her insurance who says the 670G is covered "with a prior approval" and so are additional items. The sales rep has this 13month pay plan which "she" insists is the way to do it but don't we have a right to compare?? Do Sales reps do Prior Approvals? Who is this "group" she says does it for Medtronic?? I need some help and no one at Medtronic will give me answers. Thank you for any help or assistance in this matter.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Bea, prior approvals are submitted by our device specialists to the insurance plan directly for review and approval. Some plans cover pump therapy on a 13-month rental basis and pay monthly, this is determined by the health plan and not Medtronic. If you'd like to discuss this in more detail, please send me an email with your daughter's name and the phone number associated with her account and I'll connect you with someone who can answer your questions.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

I have been a long time Medtronic Pump user. Since using the 670G, my A1c went from over 8.3 to 6.3.
I think the smart IQ Guardian Connect system working on the ex\istoing 670G would be an even better result.
Any basic idea of when it will be available for670G pump users?

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Bill, that's awesome! Congratulations. At this time, our Guardian Connect is only available as a standalone CGM, but we are working on bringing connectivity options to our insulin pump systems. Stay tuned for more information.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

I've been a long time pump user. Prior to the 670G I had CGM connectivity to my cell phone from the CGM transmitter, to my 530G, and through a wireless transceiver to my cell-phone. It is extremely disappointing that the 670G lacks this. This is a major setback especially for monitoring BG while driving. When will this capability be restored for the 670G system?

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

We understand, Doug. We are working on bringing connectivity options to our insulin pump systems, but unfortunately, we don't have a timeline to share. We'll be sure to provide updates as we can.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

When I go to sign in I get a message saying No Cloud connectivity right now, please try again later. I have tried multiple times and this message keeps popping up. Please if you have any information get back to me, thank you!

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

I'm sorry you are having trouble, Tim. If you are using our Guardian Connect system, please reach out to our Software team at 800.646.4633, option 1. If you are using one of our insulin pump systems, such as the MiniMed 670G system, Sugar.IQ is not compatible at this time, but we are working on adding similar features.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

I was very interested in having an option like this for my 670g with the guardian 3 connect. I love using the cgm to tell me if I am raising my sugar or I'm dropping but I have not figured out how to long what foods I am eating unless using a whole other app. I also use android but it seems like every is apple nowadays.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

i am currently using the guardian connect now. I'm about to get the 670g but its disappointing that Medtronic only works with iOS (iPhone) system not android. This is def an issue for me as to all my devices are android. When will Medtronic finally upgrade and start with android.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Jonathan, we are working on Android compatibility, but I don't have a timeline to share at this time. Please stay tuned for updates as they are available.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Any updates on a potential Android timeline? I can tell this app would be incredibly useful, and might be worth transitioning to Apple, but there's no need if the Android app is coming out soon.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Hi, Campbell. We are working on Android compatibility, but we do not have a timeline to share. We'll be sure to update our community as updates are available.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Regarding the Sugar.IQ app, so someone would need to have an iPhone and cannot have a 670G (a very expensive device) to use the app? It's very disappointing that it has been well over a year and there have been no updates. It was explained above in another comment that the 670G doesn't work with Sugar.IQ because the transmitter and pump are on different frequencies and wireless connections.

Since there is no timeline, what progress has been made to get the 670G and transmitter on the same frequency? Is it not possible to rebuild the transmitter on the same frequency and wireless connection as the pump and make it available for consumers tp purchase, especially since transmitters only last for a year or so? Also, it seems a rather long time to be working on something so routine in the technology field as making an app available to Android users too. It kind of makes me wonder if Apple contributed a large amount of money, hence Android users being blocked from using the app.

Submitted by Commenter (not verified) on

In reply to by Commenter (not verified)

Kimberly, we hear you and we are making progress. A Bluetooth enabled insulin pump system contains multiple components, including a CGM transmitter, blood glucose meter, and a pump. The approval of the Guardian Connect Bluetooth transmitter completes one of the milestones in achieving pump connectivity. We’ve also selected a Bluetooth meter partner. Our work is now focused on having all components work together seamlessly. Once done we will need regulatory approval as well. Please know we’ve heard loud and clear that having connectivity is important and we look forward to bringing this technology to you in the future.


Post a new comment

Required fields are marked *
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.