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Freestyle Libre for the masses

kokhongw

kokhongw

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,394
Location
Singapore
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Any idea what is holding Abott from marketing Freestyle Libre as a glucose monitoring tool for the masses?
 
Would the masses care? We only care because we have an issue with blood sugar. And Abbot probably think a £50 sensor does cater to the masses.
 
kokhongw said:
Any idea what is holding Abott from marketing Freestyle Libre as a glucose monitoring tool for the masses?
Click to expand...
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this?

Abbott have done all but everything regarding marketing as far as I can see - they even issue freebies to clinics to get potential paying clients on-board.
 
GrantGam said:
Abbott have done all but everything regarding marketing as far as I can see -
Click to expand...

Agree, Grant, was looking at their website recently, they've obviously had the ad guys in!

Call me a cynic (am not really, found the whole thing quite funny!), but they now have images of: cool dude playing a guitar; cool couple leaning over a cappucino; cool dude with a sharp cycling helmet on; young kid with a less cool cycling hat; old cool dude wearing an elderly hipster woven hat; becky d telling us how she even wore it on her wedding day! yes, nfc works through layers of silk! All bases covered there!

But then, we have this:

gs-getthe-app.png

***! Are any of these ad people or at Abbott diabetic!?! Range is set at about 8 to 10! Who the **** sets range at that! And maybe the user needs a quiet word about that post-lunch 13!

Honestly, I love libre, it's been a real game changer for me, but, why, oh, why does a large company like Abbott put pics like that in their site? If my graph looked like that, I'd be embarrased to show it!

Still, it's not as bad as the one I saw for the sugarbeat iontophoresis gig. Their (as yet unavailable and likely way less accurate) sensor looks way cooler than libre but they're all running at 21.5!
 
Thanks for the replies.

It is good that remain highly priced and profitable. This will continue to attract innovators who will create disruptive solution to compete and perhaps replace them...
 
The only way in UK to get to even more mass of population is thru the NHS and NICE approval.

To be honest though, whilst so many are happily buying libre, nobody is going to be rushing to get the NHS to make available.. Joe Public is saving the NHS too much money on less blood strips now...
 
@Scott-C you obviously have no idea about the average UK type one. For most that graph would be spectacularly good. When 60% of the population has an Hba1C of greater than 7.5%, something like that would be brilliant for most, and many would be shocked about yours and wouldn't have a clue how to get there.

So while the range is rubbish, the average glucose level on display is a lot more typical than you might like to think.
 
tim2000s said:
@Scott-C you obviously have no idea about the average UK type one. For most that graph would be spectacularly good. When 60% of the population has an Hba1C of greater than 7.5%, something like that would be brilliant for most, and many would be shocked about yours and wouldn't have a clue how to get there.

So while the range is rubbish, the average glucose level on display is a lot more typical than you might like to think.
Click to expand...

It wasn't meant to be a detailed analysis of the state of play. I'm a fairly laid back guy, but the one thing which really gets my goat is when someone tells me I "obviously" don't get something. I am aware of how bad most levels are. I'm just surprised that Abbot runs that pic as is if it's a good thing.
 
I guarantee you they're aware of what the picture says. Marketing will have advised them that psychologically, this is the best design to achieve their goal. It doesn't even matter what it "says", marketing works on a different level in our brains.

As far as marketing goes, I think it's pretty good for the device itself. Although I was at the clinic today and they had no idea you could use a mobile app instead of the reader.
 
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