Dexcom’s Stelo CGM is a health tech gadget with a purpose

Year after year, most of the blood sugar technology you see at CES are devices that won’t be available for a few years. That’s why it’s refreshing to see Dexcom talk about something more concrete at CES 2024: the upcoming Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a wearable sensor that can instantly view blood sugar levels. Unlike most CGMs, Stelo is designed to be an affordable option for people with type 2 diabetes who don’t take insulin.

Unlike type 1 diabetes, in which people with type 1 diabetes produce little or no insulin, in type 2 diabetes, over time the body fails to produce enough insulin, or becomes insulin resistant. Approximately 90% to 95% of people diagnosed with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. However, if they control their blood sugar levels with oral medications rather than injecting insulin, they usually don’t have access to a CGM device.

“The way CGM works in the U.S. is that if you take insulin, coverage is pretty good, about one-third of people with type 2 diabetes,” said Jake Leach, chief operating officer of Dexcom. “But, about one-third of people with type 2 diabetes A large proportion of the 25 million people do not have CGM insurance, and there really are no products specifically designed for them.”

According to Leach, Stelo is based on Dexcom’s existing G7 CGM platform and can last about 15 days per sensor. However, the Stelo app is not a system centered around low blood sugar alerts (which would be most useful for people on insulin), but is instead designed to provide insights on real-time readings. In other words, this is not a device designed to save lives, but rather to improve them.

For example, Leach said the hope is that by using Stelo, people with type 2 diabetes who don’t regularly check their blood sugar with finger-prick tests can better understand what their normal average blood sugar range looks like and what is considered normal.arrive Do with this data. For example, they might learn that eating white rice with chicken and vegetables at dinner leads to lower peaks than eating rice alone. Or eating the same food earlier in the evening can result in a less intense glucose response. Ideally, this would allow them to make more informed choices between daily visits.

This is similar to other CGM startups pitching the devices for use by athletes or the super health-conscious. But while Leach sees opportunities for CGM for non-diabetics, he said Dexcom has chosen to continue focusing on expanding use cases for diabetics.

“Every person I talk to who has had a CGM learns something unexpected about their diet that they didn’t know,” Leach said. “CGMs are tools that can help you understand, but in order for them to be successful in helping people, it has to be designed appropriately for that group.”

Leach has a point. Last year I tested the Nutrisense CGM and while I did learn about it myself, as a non-diabetic I had no reason to continue wearing it long-term. Meanwhile, the blood sugar tech at CES can be a wild, directionless hodgepodge. As I scoured the show floor, not everyone had a good answer when I asked about regulatory clearances, timelines, exactly who this technology is going to help and what problems they are trying to solve.

That’s why it’s exciting to see Stelo have a clearer mission statement. Dexcom is a medical device company with experience bringing this type of technology to market and working with the FDA. Leach told me that the focus on software over the past few years has allowed Dexcom to push frequent updates to meet user feedback and needs. Currently, Dexcom G6 and G7 are connected to more than 100 digital applications, and Leach said the plan is to ensure Stelo also has a complete ecosystem.

But most important is a commitment to accessibility. Leach didn’t give me a final price—in part because the product isn’t on the market yet, but also because insurance makes it impossible to say exactly how much anything will cost. According to Leach, most Dexcom customers would pay less than $40 if insurance covered CGM. Medicare patients pay about $50 a month, while a third of patients are lucky enough to pay nothing. However, if you are not covered, the monthly out-of-pocket cost for Dexcom CGM is approximately $173. Stelo aims to provide more competitive prices for those who have to pay out of pocket.

Stelo CGM is currently undergoing the FDA approval process and is scheduled to be launched this summer. People with type 2 diabetes may not necessarily immediately accept CGM as a treatment modality. While Leach said doctors he’s spoken to are in favor of using the technology to treat people with type 2 diabetes, we still need to see how the medical community integrates the technology. (Wearable data, for example, isn’t always helpful to doctors.) But even so, the potential to positively impact millions of underserved people is a noble endeavor. This is the spirit of innovation you want to see at CES.