Diabetes Management Technologies 2022-2032: Markets, Players, and Forecasts

This report covers the entire landscape for diabetes management devices, including mature, emerging, and future options. We characterise and predict the technological landscape of the industry over the next decade. Strategies of major players in the industry are discussed and analysed. Developments of major milestones, such as the launch of closed-loop systems and non-invasive CGMs, are considered and discussed in our forecasts.

The diabetes management device industry has seen major changes over the past decade. At the centre is the shift from electrochemical test strips towards minimally invasive continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). The billion-dollar test strip industry has been in decline since 2010, while CGMs have only continued to grow. By the year 2032, IDTechEx predicts the test strip industry to make up only 6.7% of the overall diabetes management device market, down from a peak of 63.4% in 2010.

 

 

Diabetes patients have historically used disposable test strips for monitoring blood glucose, creating a $7.4 billion industry based on high profit margins on test strips. However, pricing pressures and more stringent reimbursement policies have been driving decline of the test strip industry between 2010 to 2015. In the EU, test strips face additional pressures of increasing CGM reimbursement since 2015. Combined, these factors have seen former leaders in the test strip industry divest their diabetes divisions: Bayer Healthcare sold their diabetes care business to Panasonic in 2016, and in 2017 Johnson and Johnson sold their Lifescan division to Platinum Equity.

 

On the other hand, the CGM market has seen rapid growth over the last few years. IDTechEx estimates a CAGR of more than 25% between 2010-2021 for the overall CGM industry, driven largely by three major players: Abbott, Medtronic and Dexcom.

 

The growth of CGMs and the decline of test strips is expected to continue as CGMs continue to gain prominence, but there remain several emerging markets test strips are expanding into that will slow their decline. In this report, we discuss the outlook for both the test strip and CGM industries moving forward, providing an account for geographical market penetration for both CGMs and test strips, along with market forecasts for both the test strip and CGM industries over the next 10 years.

 

While CGMs already offer considerable advantages over test strips, there remains much room for innovation. These devices can still cause discomfort and irritation, and the time lag of CGM measurements is a characteristic flaw of the mechanism they employ.

 

 

Today, the glucose sensor industry serves patients with type 1 diabetes due to the need for strict control over blood glucose levels. However, this is a small subset of all people with diabetes, making up only around 5% of the total. As such, many players are now pushing for device adoption from type 2 and prediabetes populations, as these are large untapped markets. This is being done via increasing integration of glucose sensors with digital health options, with major glucose monitoring players looking to develop partnerships with digital health companies for expanded product offerings.

 

Innovation within the diabetes management industry has followed a trend of increasing connectivity. This has been seen in the development of smart insulin pens and connected glucometers, among many other examples. While these have all had their parts to play in the recent development of digital health initiatives, CGMs have been a major enabler of digital health.

 

CGM partnerships with digital health platforms have seen great interest from both ends. CGM data can expand the product offerings of digital health platforms due to this improved data being made available: many diabetes health management apps with CGM pairing offer some form of “diabetes diary” for users to track their blood glucose, with added functionality built on top of this data. On the CGM end, digital health offers the potential for expansion into large untapped type 2 and prediabetes markets. CGM giant Dexcom is the most prominent example of this, partnering with a host of smaller app platforms in addition to an expanded partnership agreement with major telehealth platform Glooko in 2017.

 

 

Insulin delivery is a crucial part of diabetes management. Currently, this is mostly done via insulin pens; these devices form the bulk of the insulin delivery market by volume, as their low unit cost make them accessible to consumers.

 

CGMs have made possible the development of automated (“closed-loop”) insulin delivery systems, which could encourage growth of the insulin pump market. This would see major shifts across the insulin delivery industry, with a particularly large impact on insulin pen markets. Within this report, we discuss the development and timelines for such possibilities, along with an analysis and forecast of the impact this would have on the insulin delivery industry over the next decade.

 

 

The industries discussed above are highly interlinked; developments within one industry cause significant effects on others. IDTechEx have analysed the entire market to produce a cohesive story, tying together developments and future milestones across the diabetes management industry to provide a realistic forecast of each individual market.

 

While CGMs have been a major focal point of the industry, much notable innovation has occurred across the breadth of the industry. Over the last few years, many new players have entered the diabetes management technology market across multiple industries. This report discusses the market potential of many topics across the entire industry.

 

This report analyses the technological and competitive landscapes, identifying and reviewing over 100 companies and research institutes ranging from industry leaders to start-ups. It identifies key players in each sector along with partnership ecosystems across several industries.