Startups sometimes come under fire for defining their product based on existing companies — the Uber for this, or Pinterest for that. But when technology expands to a new category, sometimes the best way to explain it is by bringing to mind something that is already familiar.
Dario, a connected gadget for diabetes management, could be called a Square for people who have diabetes, or a FitBit for blood glucose alongside other stats. The all-in-one gadget connects to your phone via the headphone jack to keep a record of your blood glucose. Meals, activities and insulin are entered manually so the app can identify trends and help users make better decisions throughout the day. The iOS app was released by Israeli startup LabStyle Innovations on Thursday in the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and the gadget will be released in 2014, pending regulatory approval.
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The concept is not new — quantitative self apps for keeping track of calories include CalorieKing (iPhone), Calorie Counter and (Android) MyFitnessPal, and glucose-specific apps include Glucose Buddy (iPhone, Android), Glooko and MySugr. These apps can be used in conjunction with an existing glucose tester, but Dario wants to set itself apart not only by being a more holistic offering, but doing it with style.
A person who has diabetes must test their blood five times each day, in addition to being careful about what they eat and getting regular exercise. This isn't just a medical inconvenience, it's cause of a perceived stigma.
Jessica Browne, PhD, and research fellow at The Australian Centre for Behavioural Research in Diabetes has interviewed people who have type 1 or 2 diabetes about their experiences and perceptions and found 93% of people with type 1 diabetes thought it was stigmatized, while 84% of people with type 2 perceived it as stigmatized.
"Both groups reported being subject to negative social judgement, discrimination and stereotyping, which resulted in emotional distress and an unwillingness to disclose their condition," she said in an email. "People with type 1 and type 2 reported trying to avoid conducting self-management tasks in public, especially at work, in order to avoid attracting negative attention."
When Erez Raphael, CEO of LabStyle, the company behind Dario, introduced the gadget to me, he compared it to another glucose tester which came in a zipper pouch and looked very much like a medical device.
In contrast, Dario has the same clean white aesthetic as a Karma or an iPhone, is a pocket-sized meter with the lancet and disposable strips are contained inside to be easily accessible on the go.
While the look is a big part of perception-building, the trend towards reducing stigma of diabetes may have started earlier: with social.
The subreddit for diabetes, at r/diabetes, is relatively active and helpful for both those with the condition and others hoping to better understand it, as well as the differences between type 1 and type 2. On Twitter, the hashtags #t1d and #t2d, for type 1 and type 2 diabetes, respectively, are active with people sharing frustrations, support and of course, relevant links to news and blogs.
Studies reveal the connection between digital activity and managing the condition are optimistic.
The Journal of Medical Internet Research found that adults with type 1 diabetes showed significantly improved glycemic control when using a diabetes-related smartphone app along with receiving a weekly text message from a healthcare professional.
Recording health metrics digitally, as well as having available forums to share progress, can go a long way in driving better self care.
The trend of measuring daily steps taken to hours slept is well underway, with many wearable gadgets and apps promising a better life through data analysis. For someone with diabetes, tracking blood glucose throughout the day is more than that — it's how they prevent the condition from causing more serious conditions such as blindness.
Dario's mission is to empower people who have diabetes to make decisions, Raphael says, but also to reframe diabetes as a lifestyle rather than a disease, and his product as a diabetes management platform, not a glucose tester. A similar concept comes from Alcohoot, a device that aims to make monitoring sobriety socially acceptable with a well-designed connected device that measures blood alcohol level.
In Dario's iPhone app, you can enter insulin, meals and exercise activities — the app has a database so you don't need to know calorie counts offhand. You can also tag each entry with your mood and include notes. Right now, glucose is entered manually via any blood glucose monitoring device. You can set reminders for yourself to check glucose levels, and set your target range — and include a contact who will receive a notification if you are outside of your threshold. Data in the app can also be emailed to a medical professional.
Dario's gadget, which will measure and feed blood glucose level into the app automatically, is planned to launch in Europe in 2014, and will be submitted to the FDA for approval later this year, for a U.S. launch in second half 2014.