▲ Hwang Hee, CEO of KakaoHealthcare
– PASTA app allowing direct integration with CGM, namely i-SENS’s “CareSens Air” and Dexcom’s “Dexcom G7” for real-time glucose management.
– The app also displaying the correlation between real-time glucose data and lifestyle factors such as meals and exercise, providing personalized guidance.
– Enables real-time glucose data sharing among family and friends, while providing analysis reports and various forms of easily digestible contents.
[February 1, 2024] KakaoHealthcare, led by CEO Hwang Hee, announced on February 1st the launch of its AI-based, mobile glucose management service, “PASTA.”
The brand name ‘PASTA’ is a combination of the first letter of each of the following words: Personalized, Accessible, Supportive, Tech-enabled, and Affordable. The name reflects the diverse shapes and components of pasta, implying that even with the same food intake, individuals may have varying glucose responses.
KakaoHealthcare obtained the ‘Class-2 U-healthcare Gateway Software’ permit for ‘PASTA’ from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in November last year through active discussions and communications facilitated in the ‘Big Tech Company Regulatory Innovation Program Meeting’ led by the department of Digital Health Regulatory Support of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the purpose of laying the groundwork for industrial development.
The ‘PASTA’ app allows easy login using one’s own ‘Kakao account’ without the need for a separate membership registration. Additionally, it allows seamless integration with two Continuous Glucose Monitoring(CGM) sensors, namely ‘CareSens Air’ from the Korean company i-Sens, and ‘Dexcom G7’ from the U.S. company Dexcom.
Once the user selects the type of CGM within the ‘PASTA’ app, detailed guidance on CGM attachment methods, precautions, and CGM – PASTA app integration is provided. If the integration between the sensor and the app is complete, glucose data is automatically displayed in real-time on ‘PASTA’ app screen via Bluetooth. With the service, users can easily understand the correlation between lifestyle habits and glucose level through real-time glucose data and intuitive record keepings. Users can conveniently record their meals, exercises, insulin, and medications with the help of Vision AI function which can provide information such as food type, nutrients, and calories when capturing images of meals. As such, ‘PASTA’ not only visually shows the glucose responses based on various lifestyle habits through graphs, but also provides guidance based on glucose level changes, assisting the users in creating healthy lifestyle habits on their own.
Furthermore, ‘PASTA’ analyzes data gathered during the ‘CGM-attached period’ to provide summarized information such as glucose variability, glycemic management indicator(GMI), percentage within the target range, average glucose level and glucose highlights. The app also offers reports that distinguishes aspects where glucose management is done well and areas for improvement.
Additional features include real-time sharing of glucose information with family and friends, cheering up each other for improving their lifestyle habits, communication boards where users can communicate based on their glucose management types, and communities where users can view personalized glucose management contents.
‘PASTA’ app can be installed on Google Play Store and Apple App Store starting from February 1st, and additional features for the iOS version are planned to be updated in the future.
Meanwhile, KakaoHealthcare will also introduce ‘PASTA Connect Pro,’ a professional web dashboard allowing healthcare professionals to access and utilize users’ glucose information collected through the ‘PASTA’ app. The professionals can view the users’ lifestyle habits such as meal records and exercise information that the users entered in their PASTA app and can also check the users’ real-time glucose trends. There is also a convenient feature that summarizes key information. Information that professionals have access to via PASTA Connect Pro can be used for education and treatment purposes.
KakaoHealthcare plans to integrate ‘PASTA Connect Pro’ with hospitals’ EMR(Electronic Medical Record) to enhance convenience for physicians and patients, and also have decided to implement world’s first SDK integration with Mallya Smart Cap suitable for use with insulin pens for intensive insulin therapy in diabetic patients by the second quarter of this year. Furthermore, KakaoHealthcare is planning to expand the service scope of ‘PASTA’ to chronic diseases directly related to diabetes and enter the global market with global partners starting from Japan this year.
KakaoHealthcare CEO Hwang Hee expressed, “ultimately, KakaoHealthcare aims to become a technology company contributing to the improvement of patients’ quality of life, enhancement of medical accessibility, social cost reduction, innovation of medical technology, and overall healthcare improvement,” and that “the company is committed to actively participate in seeking sustainable improvements in the regulatory environment of digital medical devices with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to develop domestic smart healthcare industry. (End)
