Continuous glucose monitoring market is projected to keep growing

As KPMG’s U.S. sector leader for healthcare, Ash Shehata has been tracking the market for continuous glucose monitors for years.

The continuous glucose monitoring market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, according to Ashraf Shehata of KPMG.

He’s optimistic that the market is going to grow significantly in the coming years.

“We love the market,” Shehata tells Chief Healthcare Executive®.

“We talk about modernizing health tech. It's probably one of the best examples that so many people can get to,” he says.

Continuous glucose monitors help patients with diabetes track their blood sugar levels easily. A small device is implanted in the patient’s skin, often under the arm, and patients can see their blood sugar levels on their phones. For some patients, continuous glucose monitoring systems are more convenient and less of a hassle than using finger sticks to check blood sugar levels.

• Read more: Using glucose monitoring devices to help patients manage their diabetes

Most recipients have obtained glucose monitoring systems from their healthcare providers. In August, Dexcom released its over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor, Stelo, in the United States. Last month, Abbott released its over-the-counter glucose monitor, called Lingo.

Shehata pointed to some projections of the continuous glucose monitor market rising to $20 billion by the year 2030. He expects to see strong growth globally, as continuous glucose monitoring systems enter more markets.

“It’s a targeted product set for a single disease. And to hear those kinds of numbers by the end of this decade, you know, is pretty staggering,” he says. “So I think you're going to see it continue to go.”

Nationwide, 38 million people have diabetes, with 1.2 million people being diagnosed with diabetes each year, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Shehata says payment and reimbursement models will play a role in the speed of growth in the use of the devices. From his perspective, greater coverage of the devices as a pharmacy benefit, enabling consumers to get the devices easily at any pharmacy, will enable more people to have access to the devices.

“I do think the big hurdle here is to get it into a pharmacy benefit. And you can kind of see in other things, when it moves to the pharmacy benefit, the broader distribution tends to happen much more rapidly … we have a lot of mechanisms around the pharmacy benefit that can really help expand its access,” Shehata says.

A recent study suggested that patients who obtained the glucose monitoring systems from a medical supplier had greater adherence.

Shehata says it’s an area that would benefit from more study, particularly in terms of the consumer experience. But he says it’s important to ensure patients continue to use the glucose monitoring systems.

“When you have a lifelong disease like that, people who feel like they are more in control and have a better lifestyle, will likely see better results,” he says.

Shehata expects the market to grow as continuous glucose monitors are used to aid different types of patients. He says he’s heard of the systems being used for pregnant women who are at higher risk of diabetes.

“It's going to actually be very useful as we start to see more and more populations that are vulnerable to diabetes,” Shehata says.

As America continues to face chilling levels of maternal complications, including maternal mortality, Shehata expects more providers to offer continuous glucose monitoring systems to patients who are expecting.

“I think that's one of the reasons why the market could expand,” Shehata says. “Because gestational diabetes has been a bigger issue lately. It's been one of the reasons why we've seen issues around patient and fetal mortality in the United States and other countries. So I mean being able to do a better job of monitoring those high-risk cases, or even cases as they move from moderate to high-risk very quickly, could be really, really important.”

At the other end of the spectrum, America’s population is growing older, and that will also likely drive growth in the market, Shehata says. The last of the “Baby Boom” generation will reach retirement age by 2030.

“It’ll be a bigger market,” Shehata says.

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