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Fitbit is teaming up with Dexcom to make life much easier for diabetics by bringing glucose monitoring to their Ionic smartwatch. This is huge news for those who are looking for ways to better manage the disease.

The company made the announcement today, and starting 2018 this will be the first step in bringing Dexcom’s monitioring device data to their Fitbit’s latest watch the Ionic. The collaboration between Fitbit and Dexcom aims to develop and market more products.

Now how will the Ionic work? With the help of a $900 Dexcom G5 Mobile sensor that’s inserted just under the skin, that will show your vitals every couple of minutes. It will give those stricken by the disease a readout of their glucose levels and where they are heading.

The Apple Watch already supports the Dexcom sensor with the help of the iPhone. That will soon change and you will be able to see your readouts directly on your on the watch itself thanks to core Bluetooth, coming in watchOS4.

Dexcom’s CEO, Kevin Saye released a statement about the collaboration:

The collaboration between Dexcom and Fitbit is an important step in providing useful information to people with diabetes that is both convenient and discreet. We believe that providing Dexcom CGM data on Fitbit Ionic, and making that experience available to users of both Android and iOS devices, will have a positive impact on the way people manage their diabetes.

This is great news for the 422 million people in the world affected by diabetes who already have the sensor or can afford to have one inserted in them. Diabetes is an epidemic in the African-American community and hopefully there will be affordable options for those who can’t afford to drop over $1,000 for a watch and sensor.

This is definitely a step in the right direction in the battle against diabetes, though, and will surely help aid in the fight for a cure.

The Fitbit Ionic itself will cost $299.95 and is available for pre-order on Fitbit’s official site.

Photo: Fitbit