Abbott is joining forces with WeightWatchers to boost diabetes patients’ overall health with a focus on weight loss and controlling blood sugar levels using new digital tools.
The two big hitters have set up what they call in a press release a “strategic partnership” that will help people living with diabetes better understand and manage both their condition and their weight.
Type 1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in childhood and not related to weight, but Type 2—by far the most common and growing worldwide—is linked to obesity. Both require daily sugar level checks, medicines and insulin, as well as a healthy diet and exercise approach, especially for those with Type 2.
This link between Type 2 diabetes and obesity makes the partnership a natural fit. Abbott markets a number of diabetes devices that include several glucose monitoring systems and test strips for use at home, while WeightWatchers' focus over the last nearly 50 years is on helping people lose weight.
On the practical side, both companies are bringing their marketed products together to help patients, while also boosting their use. The partnership will start in earnest from next year and initially focus on the U.S.
WeightWatchers will bring to the table its diabetes-tailored weight management program and combine this with Abbott's portfolio of FreeStyle Libre products, which lets patients check their glucose levels via their phones, to “create a seamless mobile experience,” according to the release.
The partnership will wed Abbott's FreeStyle Libre systems with the WeightWatchers mobile app, with the goal being to share information so that people living with diabetes can see their glucose data alongside WeightWatchers’ diabetes-tailored program.
The hope is that by giving diabetics who sign up for the campaign both the information and insights needed to tweak their diets, while also improving their glucose levels and “ultimately, gain more control of their health.”