Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM System Approved in Europe and Launching in the Coming Weeks

Twitter summary: Read about what @Dexcom has in store, presented at #EASD2015. 

At the recent EASD Conference – the largest annual European gathering for the study of diabetes – in Stockholm, Dexcom announced European approval of its G5 Mobile CGM. The new transmitter and mobile app will launch in select European countries in the coming weeks, similar to the US timeline. We’ll be out soon with a test drive! 

G5 will bring CGM data directly into a paired iPhone phone app from Dexcom’s smart Bluetooth transmitter, eliminating the need to carry a receiver (though a receiver can still be used, if desired, since the new G5 transmitter can pair with two devices). An Android version of G5 is expected in 2016.

For the first time with G5, European users will get Dexcom’s more accurate algorithm (“Software 505” or “G4AP”), which improves the CGM’s accuracy, especially on day one and in pediatric patients. G5 also brings the first European availability of Dexcom Share, allowing parents, partners, or friends to follow patients’ glucose levels from the Follow app (iPhone or Android).

In a big win for European patients, G5 readings are officially approved for making treatment decisions without a confirmation fingerstick (e.g., dosing insulin off the CGM value alone). Though some current CGM users do this anyways, this is extra-important in several ways: (i) patients on CGM will need to do fewer daily fingersticks; (ii) those not on CGM who can get it covered may now be more likely to try it because they don’t have to waste time or money on extra fingersticks; (iii) doctors may be more likely to prescribe CGM for their patients because it’s easier; (iv) CGM may become more cost-effective, since patients won’t need to use as many test strips per day (CGM itself, of course, is far more expensive than a few extra strips – but it all counts). Like G4 Platinum, G5 will technically require two fingerstick calibrations per day - Dexcom management said in a message to us that the plan is that this will go down over time.

In additional to the G5 European news, Dexcom made two other exciting announcements at EASD: 

• We saw a first-ever picture of the Google/Dexcom CGM product in development. This partnership was announced only a month ago (August 2015) aiming to design a small, low-cost, and disposable CGM for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. While this photo is only a mockup of what this product could look like, it’s impressive to see the planned size – a penny! Dexcom and Google have an ambitious goal of getting a first version of this on the market within two to three years, which is sooner than we would’ve expected. They also plan to develop better software and analysis features.

• Dexcom released its new web-based Clarity downloading software at EASD, a big-time  upgrade over the previous Studio software. Clarity retains the high and low pattern recognition features from Studio, but has added a much-improved web interface, a better one-page snapshot with key information, and our absolute favorite, a “Best Glucose Day” report – we love the positive focus on what’s working well (or at least better than on the other days), a useful area too often overlooked in diabetes. Clarity puts a lot of emphasis on pattern recognition, shows an estimated A1c, and avoids the overwhelming charts and statistics that can make CGM data unmanageable. The new software can even track “rebounds” – for example, when a high comes right after a low. We really appreciated the super fast data upload process – once we downloaded the uploader program (Mac and PC compatible), it sat in the background, auto-detected a plugged in Dexcom receiver, and uploaded the data to the web-based report in less than 10 seconds. Clarity offers the same view for patients and clinicians (yes! Thank you!), and will pull data from the existing G4 and new G5 system. The new analysis software will also be available in a separate mobile app, which will presumably grab G5 data without having to do anything – we’re very psyched about that. Go to the Clarity website here for more information.

• Data management platform diasend will also integrate with G5 once it launches in the coming weeks. CGM data will now seamlessly flow into diasend (no cables!), allowing combination with insulin pump and activity data (e.g., Fitbit, Jawbone, Moves). Users will link their Dexcom account with their diasend Personal account, and after a three-hour delay, the G5 CGM data will automatically upload into diasend’s app and web platform. This news came in tandem with diasend’s new mobile app unveiling at EASD, which concisely shows important diabetes data in just two screens (see below). We like the focus on keeping data simple and hope to see even more in the future on problem identification – and ideally solutions!

It’s exciting to see how quickly CGM sensors and data downloading technology have been improving throughout the last few years. The vast majority of patients don’t use CGM right now, but we believe innovations like these, coupled with lower prices and better coverage, could really change that. As we’ve always said, the killer app will draw more patients in – this may be that! – AB

G5 and Clarity images from www.dexcom.com