By: Tomas Ronolski - AllPennyStocks.com News

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Probably the most underemphasized epidemic in the U.S., if not the whole world, is diabetes, a chronic disease with a bevy of co-morbidities that has swept across the globe at an alarming rate. While swift killer like cancer usually takes the headlines and subject of focus for the biotechnology industry, the numbers behind diabetes should command more attention. In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their latest figures on diabetes prevalence in 2012, showing that 29 million people in the U.S. had diabetes, up by about 12 percent from 26 million only two years earlier. According to the CDC, another 86 million people are what doctors call “pre-diabetic,” essentially meaning that they have high blood sugar levels that can turn into diabetes if not controlled. Add it up and that’s more than a third of the U.S. population and if the trend continues, half of the population will be diabetic or pre-diabetic in the next six years. The burden on the nation’s health care system is tremendous and growing quickly, with diabetes and related complications costing $245 billion in 2012, versus $174 billion in 2010. Digital technologies are fully developed and being deployed to help overcome physician shortages, promote better compliance in diabetes management and control costs. ActiveCare, Inc. (OTCQB:ACAR) is one of the companies to first bring their platform to the commercial marketplace and it seems that self-insured employers are embracing the offering. The company uses blood glucose meters with embedded cellular technology, which automatically uploads data from the meter to a HIPAA secure web portal where it can be monitored by specified members of the patient’s support team. Alerts can be set to notify the property parties if readings are outside predefined parameters. CareSpecialists are on call 24/7 to intervene in real-time and provide members with the support needed to control their disease.

Research from a peer-reviewed study were published in the winter issue U.S. Endocrinology, showing a first-year cost savings of almost $3,400 for each of the 71 subjects in the trial that actively used the ActiveCare system, as compared to 70 non-participating members that stayed on standard care.

Last month, the company reported that its membership base of diabetes patients grew by 12 percent from May, although the total number of patients was not disclosed. On Wednesday, ActiveCare said that it is experiencing growth again in July, announcing that it acquired more than 1,200 members diagnosed with diabetes. Again, the total number of patients using the system was not disclosed, nor was the figure provided as a percentage to try and extrapolate data for an estimate. On that note, the company forecast at the start of the year – when it had about 900 members - that through expanded partnerships, such as that with pharmacy benefits provider RxBenefits, that it expects to exceed 10,000 diabetic members by the end of 2014. The July additions certainly are a big step towards meeting that goal.

In short, the market opportunity is enormous, to say the least. The technology at the backbone of remote care that encourages accountability is developed, but it is still in its infancy from a commercial perspective and trying to gain traction, which it almost certainly will as time moves forward. It makes too much sense not to. The value is underscored by a host of clinical data that supports the effectiveness of patients simply remaining completely compliant to their doctor’s prescribed plan. This compliance is key to the world reversing the diabetes trend and trying to take a significant bite out of exploding health care expenses.

Shares of ACAR are trading flat at 55 cents on Wednesday, equating to a market capitalization of $18.9 million. Proper due diligence is, as always, encouraged.

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