The CGM-led diabetes market revolution post-Covid-19 outbreak

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the diabetic care devices market, although not as severely as other medical markets that are closely related to elective surgeries.

According to GlobalData analysis, the diabetes care devices market, covering continuous glucose monitors (CGM), insulin pens and insulin pumps, was worth over $19.0bn in 2020 and is expected to grow to $25.4bn by 2025, driven by the strong performance of the CGM market.

Abbott Diabetes Care reported strong growth of 29% against 2019, reaching $3.3bn globally in 2020. The new-generation FreeStyle Libre 3 launched in Europe last year, and is expected to increase revenue by over 20% in 2021.

The total revenue of Dexcom, the other CGM leader, grew 31% over 2019, driven by a record number of new patient additions due to growing awareness from healthcare providers and patients. The growing trend continues in 2021. In the first quarter, led by FreeStyle Libre sales of nearly $830m, sales from Abbott Diabetes Care increased 23.6% against Q1 2020.

Similarly, revenue from Dexcom grew 25% versus the same quarter in 2020. The robust growth of the CGM market is driven by market expansion and increased awareness, as well as ongoing new-generation product launches globally.

Medtronic’s MiniMed 770G, the first hybrid closed-loop pump system approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), launched across 26 countries and had strong growth in Q4 2020.

The device combines a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump to regulate a patient’s insulin. With the approval of its MiniMed 780G system in the EU, the closed-loop pumps market is likely to have mid-single-digit growth in 2021.

Collaborations between insulin delivery and CGM manufacturers are closer in 2021. To complete with MiniMed 770G, Abbott is working with Insulet to develop a platform to integrate its CGM sensing technology with Insulet’s patch pump, Omnipod.

The platform allows glucose data from a CGM sensor to send to Omnipod and automatically adjust insulin delivery to a patient. Bigfoot Biomedical Inc recently received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Bigfoot Unity. The system features connected smartpen caps that work in conjunction with FreeStyle Libre 2 to recommend insulin doses for patients using insulin pens.

Additionally, digital technology and new models of diabetes care have been rapidly deployed to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Dexcom’s CLARITY clinic software provides healthcare professionals with a web-based portal to view their patients’ CGM summary data. The clinical usage of CLARITY has increased greatly to serve patients with diabetes in response to the pandemic.

GlobalData anticipates the continued growth of the CGM and closed-loop pumps market will be over 20% in 2021 due to technological development and increasing awareness. Additionally, CGM usage will expand from type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes on intensive insulin therapy to broader populations including non-intensive type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, pregnancy and the hospital market.