A New Day in BGM
Diabetic Investor has just received word that the FDA has finally approved the iBGStar glucose monitor. The iBGStar is the first FDA approved glucose monitor that attaches the popular iPhone and marks the beginning of Sanofi’s (NYSE:SNY) entry into the highly competitive glucose monitoring market. Besides the iBGStar Sanofi will also offer the BGStar a more conventional stand-alone meter. Both meters came from Sanofi’s partnership with privately held AgaMatrix and should provide a much need boost for the company which has struggled to find a following.
With this approval we’ll finally see if iPhone users who also have diabetes will favor a meter that works with their phone or will they remain loyal to their existing monitor. Although the iPhone is wildly popular and the iBGStar will certainly have the “cool” factor, this does not solve some of the fundamental dynamics of the BGM market. Sanofi still must get the system on formulary and make the cost on par with existing systems. While there will a sub-segment of the market that will pay for the iBGStar, after all people have been known to stand in line for hours waiting for the latest version of the iPhone, the iBGStar as cool as it is just a glucose monitor.
Diabetic Investor also believes that given their push to become the dominate player in the diabetes space combined with their strategy of viewing diabetes as life cycle opportunity, Sanofi isn’t finished in the device space and frankly needs to acquire someone already in the BGM space as scale is critical in this business. That being said the iBGStar is just one component in what will be series of devices from Sanofi, all of which will be interconnected and push the company closer to their quest to handle everything a patient needs soup to nuts. As Diabetic Investor has stated previously Sanofi is aiming to be the first company to offer a complete diabetes management system that includes the drugs, devices and disease management tools a patient needs to more effectively manage their diabetes.
For years Diabetic Investor has been predicted it was only a matter of time before patients were prescribed a diabetes management system rather than a series of components all from different companies and with the news and Sanofi’s strategy we are now one day closer to this becoming a reality. The real question here is can Sanofi actually pull off this aggressive and previously untried strategy? Well soon find out.
