Last month, we chatted with Jake Leach, Dexcom’s chief technology officer (CTO) to get the latest scoop on the release timeline and new features of the Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a highly-anticipated diabetes technology that will be released in 2021. Many follow-up questions from our readers prompted us to follow-up further.
Without further adieu, here are your questions about the G7 answered:
There is no calibration, correct?
“This is correct.”
What about pharmacy vs. supplier distribution for the G7?
“We continue to focus on making CGM more accessible and easier to obtain for patients. Pharmacy is our preferred distribution channel and we have expanded pharmacy access for Dexcom CGM by nearly 80% since December 2018. This strategy will not change for G7.”
Now that the product is disposable, would this no longer be considered durable medical equipment (DME) and thus covered differently by insurance companies?
“The disposable aspect of the product has no impact on reimbursement.”
Do you anticipate working on integration with all the major pump companies?
“As the first iCGM on the market, and still the only one indicated for use with automated insulin delivery systems, Dexcom G6 is the forerunner in the category of interoperability and are advocates of patient choice in insulin delivery. G7 will be no different. With Insulet’s Omnipod 5 preparing for a first half of 2021 launch, we feel that our leadership in this category will result in us having integrations with the leading tethered pump on the market in Tandem’s Control.IQ, and the leading tubeless pump in Omnipod 5.
We are also very excited about the development progress that Lilly and Novo Nordisk are making in their Bluetooth connected smart pen technology and we continue to believe that the solutions we’re working on with those two teams will enable significant improvements in the user experience and ease the burden of diabetes in the MDI population, which represents the vast majority of intensive insulin users across the world.
Two years ago we stated that we believe that by 2023, 50% of our insulin intensive customer base will be using a connected insulin delivery device in combination with our CGM, and we believe that we are on track to hit that mark. Connected systems are truly the future of diabetes technology and we are working to extend our leadership in the category with these key partners and the tools that we have created to support these integrations, including our Dexcom artificial pancreas algorithm technology.”
Is there any evolution with the readout frequency (to be more frequent than every 5 minutes)?
“Patients and [providers] both tell us there isn’t a need for CGM systems to provide a glucose readout more frequently than every five minutes. This is especially true since Dexcom CGM has an Urgent Low Soon predictive alert that can warn users 20 minutes in advance of a severe hypoglycemic event (55 mg/dL), which helps give them time to take appropriate action before an event occurs.
Will G7 be approved for different wear locations (besides the abdomen)?
“We are conducting pivotal trials with the G7 in multiple wear locations, including abdomen and upper arm.”
Image source: Dexcom
In addition, Jake Leach had the following to say, highlighting his enthusiasm for the new developments:
“With G7, we’ve taken all of the great features that we’ve established with G6, features that have resulted in market-leading patient satisfaction scores, and have made them even better. G7 is a real time, factory calibrated continuous glucose monitor with iCGM level performance, a simplified application and start-up process, and a faster sensor warm-up time. We’ve packaged all of this into a fully disposable form-factor that is 60% smaller than our current G6 wearable and introduces significant cost reductions across the manufacturing process. This G7 wearable technology is paired with a brand-new app experience that includes real time glucose information combined with personalized insights designed to further enhance the unique value users get from Dexcom CGM. Take all of these features together and you can understand why we are so excited about G7 as a key driver of the growth story that we’ve laid out today.”
Are you excited to test drive the G7 CGM? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
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