Bayer Expands Diabetes Care Portfolio

Bayer HealthCare LLC (Tarrytown, NY, USA), a member of the Bayer Group, has expanded its diabetes care line by acquiring Metrika Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a privately held company that manufactures a meter-based diabetes monitoring system. Financial details were not disclosed.

Metrika's pager-sized monitoring system, called A1CNow+, offers single-use, disposable test cartridges that can be used for monitoring glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), the clinically accepted standard measure of ongoing blood sugar control.

HbA1c measures a patient's blood sugar control over two to three months. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the newly-released system provides access to lab-quality HbA1c results in just five minutes. This helps to improve the overall efficiency of diabetes care by reporting HbA1c values directly to the patient or during the patient's office visit, eliminating absent or delayed lab results.

The test is performed with a simple three-step procedure using finger-stick or venous blood. Fast, easy measurement of HbA1c enables healthcare providers to make immediate diabetes management decisions with the goal of improved outcomes.

"In keeping with our history of innovation in diabetes care, we are very excited to now offer people with diabetes and their healthcare providers the first and only device for use both at home as well as in the professional setting for monitoring of HbA1c, perhaps the most important indicator of blood sugar control,” said Sandra Peterson, president of Bayer Diabetes Care. "The addition of A1CNow+ complements and strengthens our portfolio to include a full spectrum of products for total diabetes diagnosis and management.”



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