Libre Sense – New Abbott continuous glucose monitor 'for athletes'

[JulesP]

There's a bit of buzz in the diabetes community about this new CGM device from Abbot – makers of the Libre. My non-cyclist wife has type 1 and uses the somewhat superior Dexcom G6 CGM, after trying the original Libre for a while – the need to manually scan to get a reading limited its usefulness for her.

Abbott Introduces Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor in Europe, World's First Glucose Biosensor Designed for Athletes

The Libre Sense isn't certified for medical use, but this will hopefully kickstart more-open CGM kit (this'll need to talk to Garmin and its ilk for wide acceptance, I think) with more user-friendly features. Assuming it's even remotely, accurate, of course.

[Rod Marton]

I think "assuming it's even remotely accurate" is the key phrase here. CGMs usually operate on measuring glucose concentration in interstitial fluid, and to my knowledge this is not an especially accurate method, nor does interstitial fluid glucose concentration correlate particularly well with blood glucose concentration. The fact that it hasn't got FDA approval isn't a killer, as it is quite a lengthy process, but the FDA do normally like you to be able to show that something works.

[JulesP]

Both the current Libre and the Dexcom G6 can be very accurate, but there's little consistency between sensors, or even time of day – could be the sensor, could be the insertion point, could be a whole host of other factors. My wife's G6 has often proved remarkably accurate compared to a finger-prick test, while at other times it's been way, way off – but its trend prediction (fast drop/rise) is usually enough.

I'm guessing this one isn't being billed as a medical device yet because this is a good way to get it thoroughly tested first and, maybe, tap into a new market with money to burn. And hopefully lessons learned here will roll through to approved medical versions, whose official software, at least, leaves a lot to be desired.

[Kim]

but its trend prediction (fast drop/rise) is usually enough.

This seems to be where CGM excels.  If your diabetes is hard to control, the trend is often more useful than an instantaneous reading.  Sometimes you want both.

I'm guessing this one isn't being billed as a medical device yet because this is a good way to get it thoroughly tested first and, maybe, tap into a new market with money to burn. And hopefully lessons learned here will roll through to approved medical versions, whose official software, at least, leaves a lot to be desired.

Shiny toys for early adopters often lead to (or inadvertently happen to be) revolutionary adaptive technology. 

[Gattopardo]

I think "assuming it's even remotely accurate" is the key phrase here. CGMs usually operate on measuring glucose concentration in interstitial fluid, and to my knowledge this is not an especially accurate method, nor does interstitial fluid glucose concentration correlate particularly well with blood glucose concentration. The fact that it hasn't got FDA approval isn't a killer, as it is quite a lengthy process, but the FDA do normally like you to be able to show that something works.

Thought the tech was getting better and more accurate.

[Rod Marton]

I think "assuming it's even remotely accurate" is the key phrase here. CGMs usually operate on measuring glucose concentration in interstitial fluid, and to my knowledge this is not an especially accurate method, nor does interstitial fluid glucose concentration correlate particularly well with blood glucose concentration. The fact that it hasn't got FDA approval isn't a killer, as it is quite a lengthy process, but the FDA do normally like you to be able to show that something works.

Thought the tech was getting better and more accurate.

Much of the tech at the moment is directed towards measurements of blood glucose which don't actually sample blood, the reasoning being that most diabetics don't test their blood glucose anything like often enough and this is because a finger-prick test isn't the most comfortable or convenient thing to do. Thus interstitial fluid measurement (which as far as I am aware is the only one to appear as a product yet), but there is also tear film measurement, and also measuring properties of the eye (which can change with blood glucose). But there is still the problem of correlating these with blood glucose concentration.