Frost & Sullivan: Manufacturers Develop Diabetes Products Attuned to Patient Lifestyles

July 6, 2011 - PRLog -- MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – July 6, 2011 – The World Diabetes Foundation estimates the global expenditure on diabetes to reach $561 billion by 2030, considering the average spending of $878 per patient on diabetes. Innovators in the game of developing high-tech diabetes care products have attained synergies by gaining customer adoption, satisfaction and retention rates–potentially shifting the existing customer base of market leaders.

Realizing outcomes of product- and time-centric strategies to gain customer ROI, successful companies are focusing on a customer-centric strategy. Several diabetes product manufacturers have commenced leveraging social media to effectively engage their customers and showcase their capabilities to improve diabetes management. Integrating mobile communications with wireless monitoring devices and best user interface are leading effective diabetes care of patients worldwide.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Blood Glucose Management Systems: A Strategic Assessment of Emerging Technologies, finds that secure mobile diabetes care applications, non-invasive blood glucose sensors, disposable insulin patch/pod, and closed-loop insulin delivery systems and smart insulin are emerging technologies catalyzing positive change in the diabetes management industry.

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an e-mail to Britni Myers, Corporate Communications, at britni.myers@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company Web site, city, state and country.

“To address concerns surrounding data privacy and safety of patient data, a few innovators have collaborated with telecom giants and mobile phone manufacturers to launch next generation diabetes management programs that are specially designed to blend with patients’ lifestyles,” said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Arjunvasan Ambigapathy. “Mobile handsets, innovative user interface, secure Web servers for personalized data exchanges and custom in-built alarms, reminders and diet information have enabled creation of products that lower cost of ownership, geographic scalability, increased accessibility and collaborative productivity.”

In the past, strategic collaborations and technical partnerships between diabetes companies focused more on product development. Results of clinical research were used to convince regulatory bodies and improve consumer awareness by well integrating such data into marketing campaigns, all resulting in a good supplier/distributor relationship and establishing a reputed brand name in multiple geographies.

However with the influence of globalization and expanding knowledge, customers in this space clearly demand products that are cost effective, simple in design, and easy to operate without physicians’ supervision and portability. Manufacturers have implemented technology best practices to accommodate high precision, performance and accuracy in blood glucose measurement products. Insulin pumps, being the latest additions to the diabetes product portfolio, limited users of these products who demand a better aesthetic appeal and wide availability of these products.

There is high skepticism among the investment community to venture into research on closed-loop insulin delivery systems, as there are no clear regulations existing for these devices in the industry. Commercialization, consumer awareness and clinical optimization of these products will strongly depend on time and monetary investment. The combination of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin delivery is still in open-loop configuration. Manufacturers demand clear regulations on closed-loop insulin delivery mechanism, more so to invest on research without any risk on returns over a period.

With microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and casing materials playing a huge role in boosting precision and accuracy of blood glucose monitoring (BGM) systems, assemblers find it increasingly difficult to test such components, as they require a design for use several times a day. Industry collaborations and partnerships to obtain technical expertise from academic institutions were forged in the past, but success from such initiatives is still limited.

“Large-scale commercial manufacturers of insulin pumps and self-monitoring products are eying research on closed-loop insulin management system or artificial pancreas as the thing of the future,” said Ambigapathy. “Despite support from regulatory groups and technical support from non-profit organizations, the commercial impact is highly subject to awareness, cost-effectiveness and safety these technologies establish among prospective buyers and payers.”

Setting aside the focus on quarterly/annual profits, yearly planning to spend on licensing technologies, acquisitions along with maintaining clear IP status would be a best practice market leaders can accommodate into their strategic plan to overcome commercial threats created by new technology innovators.

Since BGM products are subject to less regulatory scrutiny, small-scale innovators of self-monitoring products and insulin pumps find lucrative opportunity to strategically partner with telecom companies and mobile handset developers to gain commercial visibility. Although involvement of third-party service providers might create additional barriers in optimizing product and service cost to small innovators, this has been a tested approach to attain better brand visibility and to create a platform for potential partnership opportunities with market leaders.

Blood Glucose Management Systems: A Strategic Assessment of Emerging Technologies, a part of the Technical Insights subscription, provides an analysis of the advances in the area of blood glucose monitoring, insulin pumps, and other IT-based diabetes care products with strategic opportunity analysis of the global environment with recommendations. Further, this research service includes detailed technology analysis and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

Frost & Sullivan’s Technical Insights research group is an international technology analysis business that produces a variety of technical news alerts, newsletters and research services.

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Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's research and consulting services empower clients to generate, evaluate, and implement effective growth strategies.