Roche Diabetes Care Celebrates Second Annual Infusion Site Awareness Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 4

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Roche Diabetes Care, makers of the
ACCU-CHEK® portfolio of diabetes management products and services, is proud to
host its second annual Infusion Site Awareness Week, Aug. 29-Sept. 4, a
week-long effort to highlight the importance of proper infusion site management
for the 400,000 people in the United States with Type 1 diabetes who use an
insulin pump.

“The inaugural Infusion Site Awareness Week, which was launched during the 2010
annual American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) conference, helped us
reach hundreds of diabetes educators and people living with Type 1 diabetes who
are now better able to identify and address potential complications stemming
from improper site management,” said Roche Diabetes Care North America Medical
Director Andreas Stuhr, M.D.

According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a supporting
partner for this year’s campaign, as many as 3 million Americans live with type
1 diabetes, and about 15,000 children and 15,000 adults are diagnosed with the
disease every year.

“Living with type 1 diabetes requires a person to be extremely aware and
knowledgeable about the disease,” said Aaron Kowalski, Ph.D., Assistant Vice
President of Treatment Therapies for JDRF. “In addition to monitoring blood
sugar and adjusting diet and exercise, proper infusion site rotation and care is
an often underemphasized, but very important part of good diabetes management.
Infusion Site Awareness Week is a perfect opportunity for diabetes educators to
discuss the importance of best practices for insulin pump usage with their
patients, both new and old.”

For people with diabetes using insulin pump therapy, the infusion site is where
an insulin pump’s plastic cannula or steel needle is placed under the user’s
skin to administer insulin. Infusion site management is the practice of choosing
a site, cleaning and preparing it, properly inserting a cannula or needle,
monitoring insulin flow and then regularly rotating the insertion site to avoid
infection and ensure appropriate insulin delivery. In most cases, this site must
be changed every one to three days and the same site must not be reused for
about two weeks or until the site has fully healed.

Roche started the annual initiative last year to increase understanding and
education about proper infusion site management. A 2007 study in the American
Diabetes Association journal Diabetes Care reported that some adult patients
experience as many as 12 issues of irritation or infection a year because of
improper site maintenance. The authors concluded that “efforts to minimize the
risk of irritation, scarring, and infection should include strict adherence to
proper infusion site preparation, catheter insertion, and site rotation.”(1)

To help increase education, Roche is distributing Infusion Site Awareness Week
kits to certified diabetes educators throughout the U.S. These kits include an
educational DVD explaining proper site maintenance, fact sheets to help
facilitate discussions and promotional materials such as bracelets, temporary
tattoos, logos and press materials to help with outreach within their
communities. Information can also be found at www.infusionsitemanagement.com.

In addition to the kits, Roche is taking the conversation on infusion site
management to the social web. Follow the Infusion Site Awareness movement on
Twitter @infusionsite for regular updates about healthy living, diabetes
management, and other important news.

“The prospect of constant finger pricks, strict diets and wearing an insulin
pump all day can be devastating to newly diagnosed diabetes patients,” Dr. Stuhr
said. “With Infusion Site Awareness Week, we hope to make living with diabetes a
little easier, a little less scary, and help people develop life-long practices
that will lead to more healthy lives.”

For more information, go to www.infusionsitemanagement.com.

About Roche Diabetes Care

Roche Diabetes Care is a pioneer in the development of blood glucose monitoring
systems and a global leader for diabetes management systems and services. For
more than 30 years, Roche has been committed to helping people with diabetes
live lives that are as normal and active as possible and has been helping
healthcare professionals manage their patients’ condition in an optimal way.
Today, the ACCU-CHEK portfolio offers people with diabetes and healthcare
professionals innovative products, services and comprehensive solutions for
convenient, efficient and effective diabetes management–from blood glucose
monitoring through information management to insulin delivery. The ACCU-CHEK
brand encompasses blood glucose meters, infusion pumps, lancing and data
management systems. For more information, please visit accu-chek.com.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

For further information, please contact:
Todd A. Siesky
Public Relations Manager
Roche Diabetes Care
9115 Hague Road, Building H
Indianapolis, IN 46250-0457
Phone: +1-317-521-3966
todd.siesky@roche.com
www.accu-chek.com

(1) Phillip, Moshe, MD, Battelino, Tadej , MD, PhD, Rodriguez, Henry, Danne,
Thomas, MD, and Kaufman, Francine. “Use of Insulin Pump Therapy in the Pediatric
Age-Group.” DiabetesCare 30.6 (2007): 1653-1662.

SOURCE Roche Diabetes Care