Milpitas, Calif., April 26, 2006 - LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, today introduced the OneTouch® Ultra®2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System, a new product designed to help the nearly 15 million Americans diagnosed with diabetes see the impact of their food and portion choices on their blood sugar levels.

Today, about two-thirds of the more than 13 million people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes have blood sugar averages that are out of control, and a significant contributor to these averages is the high blood sugar that many people with diabetes experience after meals. In fact, in people with diabetes, high blood sugar after meals has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which strikes people with diabetes twice as often as it does those without diabetes. It's not surprising, therefore, that a number of healthcare professionals today are asking some of their diabetes patients to focus on controlling their after-meal blood sugar levels, and not just their fasting or before-meal blood sugar levels.

To assist people with diabetes in the testing and managing of their blood sugar before and after meals, LifeScan developed the OneTouch® Ultra®2 System, which offers tools such as: the ability to flag and identify a specific blood sugar result as coming from a "before-meal" or "after-meal" test; an easy-to-use display of before- and after-meal blood sugar averages (for the past 7-, 14- and 30-day periods) to help users spot meal-related trends; and a feature enabling users to tag specific results with preset comments that can provide later insight, such as what may have caused an after-meal blood sugar result to be too high.

"In today's 'super-size' culture, where portion control can be a struggle for many, the OneTouch Ultra2 System is likely to be viewed as a welcome assistant by many people with diabetes, offering features to help them see the impact of food and portion choices on their blood sugar," said Lisa Weseley, LifeScan marketing manager for the new product.

The potential need for such a product becomes clearer considering a new survey finding that nearly three out of five people with diabetes (59 percent) do not regularly use their current meter's blood sugar results to help them adjust the size of their food portions. In addition, 48 percent report that they don't use their blood sugar results to help guide the types of food they eat either.

The new phone survey, sponsored by LifeScan and conducted by research firm Newman-Stein-Friedman Inc, asked 500 adults with diabetes about their management of the disease, including the testing and control of their blood sugar. Conducted in January of this year, the survey had a margin of error of ± 4 percent.

Survey Results Also Point to Need for Further Patient Education
Despite the millions with out-of-control blood sugar levels, the survey also confirmed that not only do most people with diabetes not test after meals (63 percent), but that even if they were to consider some after-meal testing, many wouldn't know what they should be aiming to achieve. For example, 35 percent of the survey respondents said they did not know what blood sugar level after a meal indicates good diabetes control, and 50 percent said their healthcare professional had not provided a blood sugar goal for testing after eating.

Confirming further this lack of patient understanding about after-meal blood sugar testing, the survey also found that 67 percent of people with diabetes were not aware that any national medical organization had set an after-meal goal for diabetes patients' blood sugar levels. This is despite the fact that there are after-meal blood sugar goals established by both the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), as well as efforts to communicate this kind of information to both physicians and patients.¹

"After-meal test results are important because many diabetes patients experience a rise or upward spike in their blood sugar levels after eating, peaking at around the two-hour mark," stated Anne Peters, M.D., director of Clinical Diabetes Programs at the University of Southern California (USC), clinical professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine, and author of Conquering Diabetes.

"Reviewing after-meal blood sugar results can help patients see the link between what they ate and the blood sugar increases that follow," added Peters. "A meter like the OneTouch Ultra2 System can help diabetes patients see which food and portion choices are working and which are not, so they can make changes."

Because healthcare professionals can differ regarding the best blood sugar testing schedule for their various diabetes patients, each patient should check with his or her own healthcare professional before making any changes in blood sugar testing routines.

Additional Features of the OneTouch Ultra2 System
To help patients learn about mealtime blood sugar testing and diabetes management, LifeScan has included educational materials inside the packaging of the OneTouch Ultra2 System. The new Simple Start™ materials, including an illustrated booklet and DVD, contain information and practical tips to help patients manage their diabetes effectively around meals, covering subjects like carbohydrate management, portion control, reading food labels, and testing before and after some meals.

Beyond its mealtime testing features, the OneTouch Ultra2 System offers the same, easy-to-use testing technology as LifeScan's popular OneTouch® Ultra® System, providing accurate test results in just 5 seconds. The new system also provides a built-in backlight for testing and viewing results in dark areas, the option of viewing all the meter's information in Spanish (in addition to English), and the option of testing—when appropriate—on the forearm or palm², which some find less painful.

The OneTouch Ultra2 System is available in pharmacies across the country and uses OneTouch® Ultra® Test Strips. It is expected to cost approximately $65 to $70 at retail. The system and test strips are also covered by Medicare Part B and most insurance plans.

LifeScan, a leading maker of blood glucose monitoring products, is dedicated to creating a world without limits for people with diabetes. More diabetes specialists, primary care physicians and diabetes educators recommend the company's OneTouch® Systems than any other brand. For information on diabetes care and LifeScan products and services, visit www.LifeScan.com.

¹ The AACE target for a patient's after-meal blood sugar is 140 mg/dL or less (tested 2 hours after the start of a meal) and the ADA target is less than 180 mg/dL (tested 1 to 2 hours after the start of a meal).
² Before patients begin testing on the forearm or palm, they should read the Owner's Booklet and talk to their healthcare provider.

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