Glucose Monitoring Systems: The State of the Art
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The glucose meter market is dominated by established big-company players. They all have a variety of meters to suit the lifestyles of different types of patients, from simple finger-stick lancets to less painful alternate site meters to elaborate systems that capture, store, plot, and transmit data and display dietary information. Most are also aiming their R&D at developing minimally invasive or percutaneous continuous glucose monitoring systems. The companies profiled in this issue each have a product development strategy designed to address the limitations of current technologies, and are directing their efforts at some of the many niches in the glucose testing market.
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TheraSense's Sweet Spot
TheraSense is making inroads in the $4 billion diabetes testing market. Its FreeStyle glucose meter system is a quality product--perhaps the best in its class. FreeStyle has gained 6% of the US meter market in less than two years, and that share still appears to be increasing. But in the six years since the company's founding, the market has changed; more than ever, glucose meters are viewed as a consumer item. And TheraSense is competing with much larger companies in the space. TheraSense has already seen the marketing of blood glucose meters change dramatically in the past three years. Should the FreeStyle line wither in the face of big-company competition, it would have little left to drive its stock price.