Abbott (NYSE:ABT) said today it won national reimbursement from the French Health ministry for its FreeStyle Libre wearable glucose monitor.
The FreeStyle Libre is designed to monitor glucose through a sensor worn on the back of the upper arm for 2 weeks, without the need for the finger prick calibration required by continuous glucose monitoring systems, the Abbott Park, Ill.-based company said.
“People with diabetes find finger sticking painful and cumbersome so they often don’t test as frequently as they should. Having easier access to technology like FreeStyle Libre is going to increase freedom for individual patients on a larger scale, and ultimately change how they—and we—manage diabetes going forward,” Dr. Hélène Hanaire of France’s University Hospital Center of Toulouse said in a prepared statement.
With the win, FreeStyle Libre will be available to Type 1 and 2 diabetes patients age 4 and up who use insulin multiple times a day in the region, according to Abbott.
“Our goal is to develop breakthrough technologies that improve people’s lives, and we thank the HAS and the French Health Ministry for recognizing the great benefit FreeStyle Libre has and for ensuring that people in France have wide access to this innovation. We share a common goal—to make the best technology available to people with diabetes so that they have access to the information that they need to live healthier lives,” Abbott diabetes care senior VP Jared Watkin said in a press release.
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