Is this the beginning?
Yesterday an unexpected gift was found under the tree as according to a study published in Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice CGM could be used as a cancer prevention tool. This retrospective analysis done at a large teaching hospital in Tokyo, Japan concluded;
“We found an association between large glycemic variability and a high risk of future malignancies in a dose-dependent manner among people without diabetes. This finding suggests that maintaining a constant level of glucose may have favorable effects on cancer prevention in people without diabetes.”
We have long maintained that CGM has greater applications beyond diabetes. That as well as CGM is doing in the diabetes world what we are seeing today is the tip of the iceberg, what’s above the water line. For reasons that are obvious everyone looks at CGM as strictly a diabetes tool. Yes there is lots of empirical evidence that CGM has applications beyond diabetes but before this study there was little in the way of hard clinical evidence.
Now we will not suggest this one retrospective analysis will push CGM usage beyond diabetes, however we do believe it will begin a new series of studies that examine CGM usage beyond diabetes. Needless to say this is very good news not just for Dexcom and Abbott the two leading players in CGM but the many Dexcom wannabes who are smart enough to understand that CGM is not just for patients with diabetes.
Already we are aware of elite athletes using CGM to enhance performance, while others see CGM as a weight loss tool. Frankly the conclusion of this analysis was very surprising and obviously should be investigated further as if proven to be a cancer prevention tool it would blow the doors off the market. It could also prompt some companies semi-attached to CGM to make the deep dive by acquiring CGM assets.
As we begin trading today Dexcom carries a market cap of $20 BILLION, an astonishing valuation when looked at from just a diabetes perspective. Yes CGM is becoming the standard for glucose measurement with adoption expanding beyond insulin using patients. And yes, the Type 2 market is huge and largely untapped. But still $20 BILLION is a big number until one looks beyond diabetes.
The simple fact is CGM could move beyond being the most transformative tool in diabetes to one the most transformative tool in healthcare. Let that sink in for just a moment and think of what that would mean for Dexcom and Abbott. Yes, the future for CGM is very bright indeed.
