Sensyne Health recognised for its impact in helping treat diabetes in pregnancy

Sensyne Health awarded a prestigious HSJ Partnership Award in providing a digital health solution for diabetes during pregnancy that has helped prevent pre-term births, C-sections and the need for pharmacological treatment

Diabetes during pregnancy affects thousands of mothers-to-be each year and can lead to serious complications in pregnancy

Oxford, UK; 28 February 2020: Sensyne Health plc (LSE:SENS) (“Sensyne”), the British Clinical AI technology company, announced today that it has won an HSJ Partnership Award for its GDm-Health product in the ‘Medtech, Device or Hardware Innovation’ category.

Diabetes during pregnancy refers to an intolerance of glucose during pregnancy. The condition is increasing in prevalence world-wide, driven by demographic and lifestyle changes. In the UK, the rise is predicted to reach over 16%, from a baseline of around 4% in 2008^[1].

Sensyne Health impact on diabetes during pregnancy

The GDm-Health technology has demonstrated a positive impact for mothers-to-be since its launch in August 2018. At present twenty NHS Trusts have adopted the product, with the system now live in sixteen of those Trusts. The system has helped to avoid an estimated 1,312 caesarean sections and 532 pre-term births, and 780 mothers have avoided transitioning to further pharmacological treatment^[2]. It also displayed the potential for cost-savings to the NHS through improved patient outcomes.

About the GDm-Health product 

GDm-health is a digital therapeutic for the remote management of women with diabetes during pregnancy by their clinical care team. Comprising a smartphone application connected to a wireless blood glucose monitor, the patient’s near real-time data that has been prioritised by algorithms is communicated directly to the hospital team supervising care. The traditional method of manually recording glucose levels on paper by the patient is time-consuming and is open to the risk of transcription errors.

GDm-Health began as a collaboration between Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. The system was invented, and clinical development led, by Dr Lucy Mackillop, a consultant obstetric physician at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in women’s and reproductive health at the University of Oxford, and VP of Medical Affairs at Sensyne Health. Her clinical activities and research focus lie in innovation in clinical practice to improve the health of women, particularly during their reproductive years.

The product was exclusively licensed by the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford to Sensyne Health and the Company has developed a cloud-hosted, globally scalable version which has been rolled out across NHS Trusts in the UK over the past 18 months and will be launched in the United States later this year. 

Dr Lucy Mackillop, clinical lead for the development of GDm-Health, said: “Through GDm-Health, we have been able to make a real, tangible difference to the lives of women during pregnancy. We are very pleased with the rapid uptake of GDm-Health by NHS Trusts, and thrilled by the recognition of this HSJ award. With GDM becoming more prevalent, it is vital that the latest technological insights available be utilised to help women and their clinicians better manage this condition.”

Lord (Paul) Drayson PhD, CEO of Sensyne Health plc, said: “GDm-Health is a great example of a healthcare innovation that has been invented in the NHS and that has enormous potential to improve health, both in the UK and internationally.” 

About GDm-Health™

GDm-Health is a direct patient-to-clinician blood glucose monitoring management system specifically designed for the management of diabetes during pregnancy and can be used to manage women with pre-existing diabetes. The system allows clinician review of patient-annotated blood glucose results in real time. It is based on a smartphone application that enables women to connect a blood glucose meter to their smartphone using Bluetooth or NFC (near field communication) and then automatically collecting blood glucose measurements. These measurements, along with any text-based commentary the woman wishes to record, are transmitted directly to the clinical team where they may be reviewed via a web-based software application. As a result, clinicians get more time to focus on the woman’s care needs rather than collecting and recording data and have the ability to prioritise care to women most at need. The system enables at a glance oversight of the patient cohort and improves communication with the women in their care.

GDm-Health is a remote communications device that allows patients to record and share data with their healthcare team. GDm-Health does not itself provide any medical diagnosis or advice or direct patient care.  Instead, it provides a patient’s healthcare team with the patient’s data in a more easily readable format, which facilitates the healthcare team’s clinical decision-making and communication back to women under their care, as evidenced by the results presented in Mackillop L. et al, JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2018;6(3):e71. 

GDm-Health is a CE approved Class 1 medical device that complies with the essential
Requirements of the European Medical Directive and subsequent implementing legislation. GDm-Health is listed on NHS Digital’s Apps Library and has been the subject of a NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) Medtech innovation briefing [MIB131].

About Sensyne Health

Sensyne Health plc is a clinical AI company that works in partnership with the NHS to improve patient care and accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines. Sensyne Health is an early signatory to the U.K Department of Health and Social Care’s ‘Initial Code of Conduct for data-driven health and care technology. Sensyne Health is listed on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (SENS.L). For more information, please visit: www.sensynehealth.com

[1] Development of a Real-Time Smartphone Solution for the Management of Women With or at High Risk of Gestational Diabetes; J Diabetes Sci Technol 2014 vol. 8 no. 

[2] Estimates calculated in October 2019 using statistics generated in a Randomised Control Trial. Please see: Comparing the Efficacy of a Mobile Phone-Based Blood Glucose Management System With Standard Clinic Care in Women With Gestational Diabetes: Randomized Controlled Trial; Mackillop et al; JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2018 Mar 20;6(3):e71 (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29559428)