Why is diabetes something you should care about?

People with chronic conditions – just like anyone else – navigate life dealing with stress, exercising, falling in love, getting angry, commuting, eating out and travelling etc. And yet, little attention is paid to the expertise they develop living their lives while managing their own condition.  

Despite hundreds of research programmes that sound great on paper - designed to advance science - little is really known about them as individuals.

Why do we need more people looking at diabetes?

Take a glimpse into the current diabetes tech ecosystem and you’ll see that what’s hot right now is anything related to closed-loop and the artificial pancreas. Unsurprisingly and rightfully so. But there are underserved groups made up of those who - for instance - can't afford pumps, aren't techie enough for complicated algorithms.

Our approach – personalised self-care focused on people using insulin pens, a rather underserved segment – is made possible by people not personally connected to diabetes. That means you don't have to live with it to help solve it. Simple as.

 How do we show we care

Out of our team of 13 here at Quin, 2 of our leaders have lived with diabetes for decades. For those of us not living with the condition, we take pride in perpetually diving into diabetes through human-centric research and speaking to a wide variety of users on a daily basis. 

We do not simply scratch the surface while building technology to help solve this problem.

 We fill in the knowledge gaps through the use of data, behavioural psychology and literally working hours on end with users sharing with us some of the most intimate details of their lives with diabetes.

Why should you care?

 We take for granted being able to get through the day with minimal levels of stress, induced by external factors. If you live without diabetes, why not help those who have it navigate the same things you do without having to worry about taking a life-saving drug?

Adding value to something bigger than yourself is also a reason why you should care. There are many big problems you could give your attention to, but with the prevalence of diabetes consistently rising, it’s likely we will all eventually become connected to it. Unless you contribute to help us solve it.

New science without real science?

Though this may sound bizarre in the world of science, we know we’re on the right track. Our latest, self-reported user survey shows that 67% of our users have started feeling more relaxed and confident about living with diabetes since using the Quin app. And perhaps more surprisingly some of them have reported experiencing fewer hypers and hypos (and on occasion, both) which is rare in our space. 

With a problem that has existed for hundreds of years and many who are trying to tackle this using a data-centric approach, we think it’s time to put the person with the diagnosis under the microscope. 

The importance of data has been drilled into us from the very beginning. It is part of the evidence that we need to believe what we’re seeing. But this means that one crucial factor has been ignored: the person living with it. This is what we’re doing at Quin. 

So how can I help? 

You can join our research if you live with insulin-treated diabetes, you can join our team as a Product Marketer or you can help to fuel the launch of our app later this year by contributing to our equity crowdfunding campaign from as little as ￡13. It ends on Thursday. Check it out here ??https://bit.ly/2ULxCWB