Kakao Healthcare, a subsidiary of Korea’s internet conglomerate Kakao, said on Tuesday that it signed a business agreement with Novo Nordisk, a Danish multinational healthcare firm, to provide smart healthcare services for Korean patients with diabetes.

Under the agreement, the two companies will link Kakao Healthcare's digital blood glucose management service Project Gamma with Novo Nordisk's Mallya Smart Sensor, which is scheduled to be launched in the second half of the year in Korea.

Novo Nordisk's Mallya Smart Sensor technology automatically collects and records daily insulin injection data through a mobile application that connects with existing insulin pens to track real-time treatment monitoring. 

The device attaches to an insulin self-injection pen to collect information about the dose of medication administered to the patient and the time of the injection and sends the data to a remotely connected software platform via Bluetooth. 

Using Kakao Healthcare's Project Gamma, patients will be able to check their blood sugar and data logs in real-time and inject insulin using Novo Nordisk's Mallya Smart Sensor. The data will be automatically recorded, and in the future, it will be linked to the hospital information system (HIS) of the patient's hospital to support effective treatment, Kakao Healthcare said.

"Through this collaboration, we expect to make healthcare easier and more convenient for people with diabetes in Korea and abroad to improve patients' quality of life and prevent complications," said Kakao Healthcare CEO Hwang Hee. 

“We believe that the convergence of medicines, devices, and healthcare software can have a real impact on improving the lives of these patients,” said Sasha Sasha Semienchuk, Vice President and General Manager of Novo Nordisk. “We are excited to form a strategic alliance with Kakao Healthcare to provide real solutions to improve the health of the six million Koreans living with diabetes."