Novo Nordisk, a big international manufacturer of drugs and devices for treating diabetes, is broadening its digital healthcare capability. The drug company, which specializes in developing medicines and devices used in the treatment for diabetes, hemophilia, growth hormone therapy, obesity and hormone replacement, has signed a product and services development deal with Glooko Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., developer of mobile health tools and apps for diabetes care.

Glooko develops a patient mobile app, a provider population management app and a mobile device which enables patients to upload data from their bloodglucose meters to doctors and other healthcare providers. Glooko supports syncing data from more than 30 blood glucose meters and can also sync data from popular fitness trackers and biometric devices, the company says.

Under the deal Novo Nordisk and Glooko will develop personalized digital services to better support people with diabetes in areas including treatment adherence and blood glucose management. They also aim to assist healthcare professionals with engaging and managing patients with population-wide data reporting, says Novo Nordisk senior vice president of strategy, access and marketing Christian Kanstrup.

“We are taking another step towards delivering digital health offerings that help people with diabetes to improve their blood glucose control,” Kanstrup says.

The new digital services Novo Nordisk and Glooko develop also will be eventually integrated into a broader digital healthcare platform the Danish-based drug and device manufacturer is building with IBM Watson Healthcare. IBM Watson combines artificial intelligence and advanced analytical software in a format that turns a computer into a question and answer machine. Novo Nordisk and IBM announced a deal in October 2015 to develop digital services and data for improved diabetes care via real-time information collected from Novo Nordisk diabetes treatments and devices.

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One of the aims of the new joint venture is to better incorporate mobile devices into data collection and services for treating diabetes, Glooko says.

We look forward to delivering jointly-branded capabilities that will enhance the collaboration between patient and healthcare professionals, says Glooko CEO Rick Altinger.

Many specific details of the new Glooko and Novo Nordisk weren’t disclosed, such as the revenue share for any jointly developed products or services, a timetable for new business development or what area of diabetes management will be targeted first. On a broader basis the two companies say the collaboration will combine Novo Nordisks deep knowledge of diabetes with Glookos digital platform and data analytics expertise.

Glooko, founded in 2010, has a range of healthcare customers that include Stanford Healthcare and Allegheny Health Networks among others.

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