Apr 20, 2007

New Meter and Pump Models Hit the Market

Tara Dairman

Some new blood glucose meters and a new insulin pump have been launched recently or will be available very soon. Read on to find out more about these products and whether you might be eligible for a free meter upgrade.

Last month, LifeScan, Inc., announced that people in the United States who had purchased certain OneTouch blood glucose meters before January 1, 2006, were eligible for a free upgrade to their choice of the company's three newest blood glucose monitoring systems. These three new meters are the OneTouch UltraMini, the OneTouch Ultra 2, and the OneTouch UltraSmart.

All three new meters require a sample size of 1 microliter of blood, offer blood glucose results in five seconds, and allow blood samples to be obtained from the forearm or palm in addition to the fingertips. The UltraMini boasts a small size with an easy-to-read screen; the Ultra 2 allows the user to flag blood glucose values as "before meal" or "after meal," enter food choices and portion sizes, and view food-related results over time; and the UltraSmart features a full electronic logbook that organizes results by time of day, enters them into charts and graphs, and allows them to be downloaded and shared with health-care professionals. All three meters use OneTouch Ultra Test Strips and come with a starter supply of strips.

Older LifeScan meters that are eligible for the upgrade are the OneTouch Ultra, OneTouch Basic, OneTouch SureStep, OneTouch Profile, OneTouch FastTake, OneTouch II, and OneTouch InDuo.

To learn more about the new meters and register for an upgrade, visit www.onetouchupgrade.com or call LifeScan Customer Service at (800) 218-3168. New meters take four to six weeks to ship.

On April 16, Abbott Diabetes Care announced that its new blood glucose meter, the FreeStyle Lite, had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This meter requires 0.3 microliters of blood and takes about five seconds to provide a blood glucose reading. It allows blood samples to be obtained from the forearm, thigh, and palm in addition to the fingertips and features automatic calibration, meaning that users do not need to enter a code manually each time they start a new vial of test strips. The meter is set to hit the market in the United States in May. You can read more about the FreeStyle Lite at www.abbottdiabetescare.com or call Abbott's Customer Care department at (888) 522-5226.

Finally, Animas Corporation recently announced the launch of the Animas 2020 insulin pump. The pump, which holds 200 units of insulin, is the smallest full-featured pump on the market today and has the lowest basal rate available (0.025 units of insulin per hour). It is also the only pump on the market to feature an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display screen, which makes numbers and images easier to see. In addition, the new pump features a database with space to hold carbohydrate information for 500 foods and remains waterproof at up to 12 feet for 24 hours.

Insulin pumps are available by prescription only. For more information about the Animas 2020, visit www.animascorp.com or call (877) YES-PUMP (937-7867).

You can read more about choosing an insulin pump in the article "Go Ahead, Pick Your Pump," and you can read more about using a blood glucose meter in the article "Blood Glucose Monitoring: What Do The Numbers Tell You?"

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