Blog - Diabetes News
Diabetes Technology Today and in the Future
Today, real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) technology and flash glucose monitors (FGMs) are becoming widely available alternatives to traditional blood glucose meters (BGMs). These types of technologies make it easier than ever for people living with diabetes to understand what’s going on in their body using a wearable sensor that takes glucose readings continuously.
However, the technology that’s available now is just the beginning. Tomorrow’s diabetes management and treatment innovations could usher in an era where managing the condition is as easy and routine as brushing your teeth.
What is the latest diabetes technology available?
From administering insulin to making sure that your blood sugar stays within your target range (defined by Diabetes UK as being between 3.9–10.0 mmol/L 1), there’s a good chance managing diabetes requires your attention all day, every day. Many of the technologies that are available for people living with diabetes today are aimed at making daily management easier and less stressful.
Data also plays a starring role in current diabetes management products, meaning that there’s usually a digital software component that tracks glucose information and stores it. Data can help individuals and healthcare professionals (HCPs) see what treatments and habits are working best and which need to be adjusted. Here are just a few of the diabetes technologies that are available right now.
Smart Insulin Pens
One of the technologies that can make keeping track of your insulin doses more convenient is smart insulin pens. Smart insulin pens are reusable and allow you to carry insulin with you and perform injections, like a regular insulin pen, but with the added benefit of recording your insulin dosing information. These types of insulin pens also automatically log the time and date of each insulin dose as well as the number of units in each dose.
You can also use other compatible diabetes technology to bring your insulin data and glucose data together in one place to view it on your own or share it with your HCP. Data from your insulin pen can be viewed alongside data from your Dexcom system using Glooko. This gives you and your HCP deeper insight into how your insulin dosing affects your glucose levels to help you see where you may need to make adjustments.
Insulin Pumps
An insulin pump is a device that you wear on your body that releases insulin at pre-programmed intervals throughout the day. Instead of carrying an insulin pen and giving yourself insulin doses manually, an insulin pump delivers doses through a small tube that’s inserted just below the skin.
Insulin pumps can make it easier to stay in control of your glucose levels, can reduce hypoglycaemia, and offer a little bit more flexibility than a pen because you don’t have to remember to perform doses manually.2 Several insulin pumps also integrate with rtCGM systems, like Dexcom G6, and is known as a hybrid closed-loop system. A hybrid closed-loop system allows the insulin pump to automatically provide insulin doses based on the glucose data being collected by the rtCGM system. Typically, you still need to enter carbohydrate information manually to make sure you stay in range when consuming meals and snacks.3 This innovation gives you the freedom to spend more of your day doing what you want to do, and less time focusing on monitoring your glucose and calculating and administering insulin doses.
Digital Health Apps
Digital health apps can help you stay on track with your diabetes management goals by providing features on your smartphone like automated reminders and notifications that let you know when you’ve achieved a milestone. Apps like Nudg even have a community component that give you the chance to connect with other people going through a similar journey with diabetes. There are also apps, such as Sugarmate, that connect to Dexcom CGM Systems data. These types of apps simplify your glucose data and enable you to get deeper insights into what’s going on with your glucose levels to help you improve your diabetes management strategy over time.
Dexcom G7 CGM System
The most recent innovation in rtCGM technology from Dexcom is the Dexcom G7 CGM System. Like Dexcom G6, the Dexcom G7 CGM System includes a sensor that’s inserted just below the skin which continuously measures your glucose and sends readings to a receiver or compatible smart device* via wearable transmitter.
You’ll find a few key improvements in Dexcom G7. The redesigned device is smaller and sleeker, with a low profile that makes it the most comfortable sensor yet from Dexcom.† The enhanced sensor warms up in 30 minutes or less, the fastest warmup time of any other rtCGM.‡ Finally, inside the Dexcom G7 app, you’ll find an all-new experience to make understanding your glucose data even easier.
Dexcom G7 is beneficial for people living with T1D who may need more support with diabetes management, especially if they are hypo unaware. It’s a great option for children and for those living with diabetes through pregnancy.
What does the future hold for diabetes technology?
The advancements in diabetes technology aren’t slowing down. Thanks to smartphones and mobile apps that can integrate with other systems, as well as cloud-based data storage, some incredible breakthroughs in diabetes technology could be right around the corner.
Automation for both glucose monitoring and insulin delivery will make managing diabetes easier—and potentially hands-free—in the future. Implantable rtCGM systems could eliminate the need to wear and regularly change a sensor device on the body. Today, there are several exciting technologies that are already being developed by the diabetes research community.4
Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) Systems
Continuing the advancement of hybrid closed-loop systems could lead us to a world where automated insulin delivery (AID) systems are the norm. AID systems, sometimes referred to as an artificial pancreas, are intended to take the guesswork and manual dosing out of glucose management. Essentially, they will combine advanced rtCGM and insulin pump technologies to provide proactive and ongoing insulin infusions that are responsive to the glucose levels present in the body—almost like a fully-functioning pancreas. Instead of calculating insulin doses manually by counting carbs, an AID system uses an algorithm to tell the insulin pump when to provide a dose and how many units to inject.2
Miniaturised Diabetes Systems
Making glucose monitoring technology as small as possible is one of the priorities for diabetes device manufacturers. In the future, we might see glucose sensors that are tiny enough to be comfortably implanted under the skin for long periods of time.5 This would mean that you wouldn’t need to worry about changing out the sensor as often and allows you to exercise and sweat or go swimming (or roll over onto your sensor while you sleep) without worrying about whether the sensor will continue to do its job.
There are also systems in development that will be able to take glucose readings via a very small laser mounted on a wearable device instead of a sensor that’s inserted into the skin. This would eliminate the need to pierce the skin entirely, leading to more sanitary and completely pain-free glucose monitoring.6 Nanotechnology advancements are enabling the development of creative solutions like electronic skin patches that sense excess glucose in sweat and automatically provide diabetes medication and, potentially, insulin to the wearer while collecting data.7
Better Patient Care with Big Data
Big data is the term for large datasets that are too massive and complex to be analysed without the help of artificial intelligence (AI). As people with diabetes turn to digital technologies that record their glucose data and other information about their diabetes management, there’s potential to use some of that data to help inform how diabetes is treated both individually and collectively.
More data means that researchers can get better insight into how well medications, technology, and clinical approaches are working. Data will also help progress the development of AI that could help automate some of the work that human clinicians do. There’s a long way to go before patient data can be used effectively and ethically (respecting privacy and ensuring security) to inform how scientists, researchers, and doctors treat diabetes.8
Real-time CGM Technology of Tomorrow
As a leader in real-time CGM innovation, Dexcom is always looking to develop user-centric products that respond to the needs of people who deal with the realities of managing diabetes every day. We’re continuing to make features like remote monitoring with the Dexcom Follow app more user-friendly and deepening the data insights available through the Dexcom Clarity diabetes management software.
Perhaps what’s more important than technological innovation is the progress towards increased accessibility of rtCGM systems for everyone living with diabetes and advancing diabetes research. The National Health Service (NHS) provides funding for Dexcom CGM Systems and charities like JDRF are working to ensure that more individuals across the UK can get rtCGM on the NHS. Research into the condition itself and the impacts that diabetes has on other aspects of an individual’s overall health (such as their mental well-being and other risk factors like cardiovascular disease) will potentially lead to breakthroughs in preventative and, maybe one day, curative treatments.
Get the Latest Dexcom CGM Technology Now
Learn more about how Dexcom G7 can support your diabetes management. With Dexcom G7, you can keep an eye on your glucose levels day and night without the need for routine finger pricks.§ Using Dexcom rtCGM systems can help you reduce your HbA1C and spend more time in your target glucose range, so you can feel your best, more often.9,10
References and Footnotes
*Display devices sold separately. For a list of compatible smart devices, please visit www.dexcom.com/compatibility.
†Patients reported 92% of Dexcom G7 sensors were comfortable to wear (mild, no discomfort)
‡ The Dexcom G7 can complete the warmup within 30 minutes, whereas other CGM brands require up to an hour or longer.
§ If your glucose alerts and readings from the G7 do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
1 Diabetes UK. Time in Range. Diabetes UK website. Accessed April 21 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/time-in-range
2 Berget C,et. al. A Clinical Overview of Insulin Pump Therapy for the Management of Diabetes: Past, Present, and Future of Intensive Therapy. Diabetes Spectr. 2019;32(3):194-204. doi:10.2337/ds18-0091
3 Artificial Pancreas. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Updated October 2021. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/managing-diabetes/artificial-pancreas
4 Dovc K, et. al. Evolution of Diabetes Technology. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2020;49(1):1-18. doi:10.1016/j.ecl.2019.10.009
5 Mujeeb-u-Rahman M, et. al. A Wireless, Integrated, Extremely Miniaturized Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. Diabetes. 2018; 67 (Supplement_1): 930–P. https://doi.org/10.2337/db18-930-P
6 TRUMPF and RSP Systems. No More Needles: TRUMPF and RSP Systems Want to Make Blood Glucose Monitoring Easier for People with Diabetes; January 9, 2023. https://www.b3cnewswire.com/202301092432/no-more-needles-trumpf-and-rsp-systems-want-to-make-blood-glucose-monitoring-easier-for-people-with-diabetes.html
7 Lee, H., et al. A graphene-based electrochemical device with thermoresponsive microneedles for diabetes monitoring and therapy. Nature Nanotech. 2016;(11)566–572. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.38
8 Begg A. Diabetes care: is big data the future? Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022;39(3)7-9. doi: 10.1111/dom.14603.
9 Beck RW, et al. Effect of continuous glucose monitoring on glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes using insulin injections: The DIAMOND randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2017;317(4):371-378. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.19975
10 Welsh JB, et al. Accuracy, Utilization, and Effectiveness Comparisons of Different Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2019;21(3):128-132. doi: 10.1089/dia.2018.0374
†Patients reported 92% of Dexcom G7 sensors were comfortable to wear (mild, no discomfort)
‡ The Dexcom G7 can complete the warmup within 30 minutes, whereas other CGM brands require up to an hour or longer.
§ If your glucose alerts and readings from the G7 do not match symptoms or expectations, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions.
1 Diabetes UK. Time in Range. Diabetes UK website. Accessed April 21 2023. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/time-in-range
2 Berget C,et. al. A Clinical Overview of Insulin Pump Therapy for the Management of Diabetes: Past, Present, and Future of Intensive Therapy. Diabetes Spectr. 2019;32(3):194-204. doi:10.2337/ds18-0091
3 Artificial Pancreas. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Updated October 2021. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/managing-diabetes/artificial-pancreas
4 Dovc K, et. al. Evolution of Diabetes Technology. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2020;49(1):1-18. doi:10.1016/j.ecl.2019.10.009
5 Mujeeb-u-Rahman M, et. al. A Wireless, Integrated, Extremely Miniaturized Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. Diabetes. 2018; 67 (Supplement_1): 930–P. https://doi.org/10.2337/db18-930-P
6 TRUMPF and RSP Systems. No More Needles: TRUMPF and RSP Systems Want to Make Blood Glucose Monitoring Easier for People with Diabetes; January 9, 2023. https://www.b3cnewswire.com/202301092432/no-more-needles-trumpf-and-rsp-systems-want-to-make-blood-glucose-monitoring-easier-for-people-with-diabetes.html
7 Lee, H., et al. A graphene-based electrochemical device with thermoresponsive microneedles for diabetes monitoring and therapy. Nature Nanotech. 2016;(11)566–572. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2016.38
8 Begg A. Diabetes care: is big data the future? Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022;39(3)7-9. doi: 10.1111/dom.14603.
9 Beck RW, et al. Effect of continuous glucose monitoring on glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes using insulin injections: The DIAMOND randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2017;317(4):371-378. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.19975
10 Welsh JB, et al. Accuracy, Utilization, and Effectiveness Comparisons of Different Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2019;21(3):128-132. doi: 10.1089/dia.2018.0374