Dexcom, the medical-device manufacturer based in San Diego, experienced a share price hike and a moral boost on Friday, when the one of the company’s major new products was approved for use. The powerful American standards agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), approved Dexcom’s injectable continuous glucose-monitoring device last week.
The implications of the approval are enormous, both for diabetics and for the blood sugar testing industry. The device, in the eyes of some experts, threatens to upend the $6 billion global glucose monitoring market. For diabetics, it could mean the end of the tiresome routine testing blood sugar levels.
The device, known as the Dexcom STS Continuous Glucose Monitoring System, is approximately the size of a ballpoint pen lid, and is actually injected under the patient’s skin on their arm or stomach. The device then remains near the surface of the skin where it is held in place by adhesive tape. The sensors are then read by a monitor, which sets the appropriate levels of insulin required by the patient. The system is available for use by both type 1 and type 2 diabetics.
At the moment the device is only intended as an adjunct to other devices, but expert views are already that the device will become widely used as a single method to monitor blood sugar levels.
In financial terms, Dexcom shares leapt in value.
Dexcom diabetes monitor approved
Tue, 28 Mar 2006
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