Pharma giant Roche acquires diabetes app mySugar

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has acquired mySugr, an mHealth app for diabetes care, for an undisclosed amount.

mySugr currently has over 1m users globally, and with its acquisition Roche hopes to build a patient-centered digital health services platform in diabetes care.

The app enables users to log meals, medication and blood sugar levels, which is stored for future monitoring, and can be used to calculate an estimated HbA1c level. Users can pay a $2.99 monthly subscription to unlock all features, or $39.99 for access to one-on-one messaging with a diabetes educator.

“Our aim is to support people with diabetes to spend more time in their ideal glucose target range and improve their quality of life,” said Roland Diggelmann, CEO of Roche Diagnostics. “Having partnered with mySugr since 2014, we see an excellent cultural fit, as both our companies are passionate about taking diabetes management to the next level and making a difference in managing diabetes.”

mySugr will continue to operate as a separate entity, and its existing platform will still be available to users, and open for use by devices from other healthcare manufacturers.