Bayer HealthCare's CONTOUR® NEXT LINK Cleared for Use With Medtronic, Inc.'s New MiniMed® 530G With Enlite®

Bayer's CONTOUR® NEXT LINK Cleared For Use With Medtronic's New MiniMed® 530G With Enlite®

WHIPPANY, N.J., Oct. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer HealthCare today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its CONTOUR^® NEXT LINK blood glucose monitoring (BGM) system as a component of Medtronic's new MiniMed® 530G with Enlite®, a breakthrough diabetes management device system with threshold suspend automation. CONTOUR NEXT allows seamless integration as a part of the MiniMed 530G insulin pump system transmitting highly accurate blood glucose results wirelessly to the insulin pump.

With Bayer's proprietary new blood glucose sensor technology, the CONTOUR NEXT LINK delivers high accuracy that meets the requirements of ISO 15197:2013. CONTOUR NEXT LINK is compatible with Paradigm® REAL-Time Revel® and Paradigm® REAL-Time Insulin Pumps, and the Guardian REAL-Time Continuous Glucose Monitoring System, and it is the only BGM labeled for use in the U.S. with the new MiniMed 530G with Enlite.

Additional features of the CONTOUR NEXT LINK:

• Wireless transmission of blood glucose test results to Medtronic insulin devices
• Fast and easy bolus dosing and continuous glucose monitoring calibration
• Pass-through feature allows for easy downloading to CareLink^® software
• Second-Chance Sampling allows you to apply more blood to help prevent wasting a test strip
• Connects directly to your computer for instant access to test results and trends, as well as for recharging the battery
• MULTIPULSEaccuracy technology from Bayer ensures accurate glucose measurements, even when blood glucose levels are low
• No Coding technology eliminates inaccurate blood glucose results due to user miscoding
• Fast, 5-second countdown and tiny 0.6 microliter blood sample

The proprietary electrochemical mediator and meter algorithm utilized in the CONTOUR NEXT LINK blood glucose monitoring system provides a stable, high signal-to-noise ratio that facilitates accurate determination of blood glucose readings, even at low blood glucose levels. The new technology also ensures that the system remains accurate under a wide range of storage conditions, corrects for common errors and is not affected by hematocrit or many common interfering substances in the blood (e.g. acetaminophen, vitamin C).

About Diabetes

Globally, the number of people living with diabetes is a growing issue not only for individuals and their families, it is one of the major challenges that the health and economic systems around the world are facing within the next years. According to the International Diabetes Federation, diabetes has already affected 371 million people worldwide and another 187 million are still to be diagnosed^. To bring diabetes under control, cross-functional action is needed, ranging from regular blood glucose measurements to active dialogues between patients, doctors and health care professionals. Building on more than forty years of heritage of diabetes management, Bayer HealthCare offers an unparalleled choice in blood glucose monitoring systems and comprehensive support including education, tools and resources designed to follow its principle of "Science for a better life".

About Bayer HealthCare

The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of 18.6 billion (2012), is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany. The company combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care and Pharmaceuticals divisions. Bayer HealthCare's aim is to discover, develop, manufacture and market products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. Bayer HealthCare has a global workforce of 55,300 employees (Dec 31, 2012) and is represented in more than 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.healthcare.bayer.com.

For more information about Contour Next Link visit www.BayerContour.com

For more information about the MiniMed 530G with Enlite visit www.Medtronicdiabetes.com

Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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SOURCE Bayer HealthCare