Medtronic Korea and Handok signed an alliance agreement strengthening their partnership in domestic distribution and sales in the diabetes sector.

The objective of the alliance is to further promote better diagnosis and cutting-edge treatment solutions for Korean diabetes patients based on the expertise and experience of both companies. The expanded partnership will enable Handok to be in charge of domestic marketing and distribution for all diabetes products, including continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, insulin pumps, and direct infusion devices.

The two parties had already signed a sales agreement in 2019 for Medtronic’s CGMs Guardian™ Connect and iPro™2, and this agreement will bring the insulin pumps MiniMed™ 640G and MiniMed™ 770G (to be launched this year) and direct infusion device i-Port Advance™ into the scope of the alliance. The alliance has been expanded to all of Medtronic’s diabetes products in order to systematically introduce available products to Korean patients and assist in their comprehensive management of the illness.

Medtronic’s CGM systems track glucose levels every five minutes up to 288 times a day through a sensor inserted under the skin. Guardian™ Connect users can check their glucose levels regardless of time or place using a smartphone application, and the predictive alerts can detect high or low blood sugars, enabling effective response to any rapid changes. Medtronic also has sensor-connected insulin pumps (such as MiniMed™ 640G) equipped with a CGM function. In the case of MiniMed™ 770G, which has been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, basal insulin is infused continuously for 24 hours while the device also tracks changes in the patient’s glucose levels. If it predicts any danger of hypoglycemia, it will automatically reduce the amount of insulin being infused and increase it again once blood sugars have been restored to normal. The i-Port Advance™ assists with intravenous injections for patients who must take multiple insulin shots in a day. The i-Port Advance™ injection port is a patch the size of a quarter that adheres to the patient’s skin and can administer up to 75 shots in a maximum of 72 hours without the needle poking the skin.