Glucose monitors revolutionized diabetes care. Now digital health startups want to bring them to the masses
For the 1.6 million people in America living with type 1 diabetes, a continuous glucose monitor can be a lifesaver.
Since the first CGM was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, the diabetes community has advocated for lower prices and better insurance coverage for the quarter-sized devices, which regularly sample a proxy for blood glucose levels and can sound an alarm when they swing too high or too low. But the cost-cutting has had an unexpected side effect: Today, glucose monitors are so cheap they’ve spawned a new crop of digital health startups selling the devices to consumers, many of whom don’t have diabetes.
