Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Definition
The blood glucose test strips devices (or) equipment market consists of sales of blood glucose test strips and related services by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that produce blood glucose test strips. Blood glucose test strips are used to diagnose glucose levels in patients’ blood and to control diabetes. This industry includes establishments that produce blood glucose test strips used to check blood glucose levels of patients.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Size
The market for blood glucose test strips reached a value of nearly $11.7 billion in 2019, having grown at 4.1% since 2015.
Growth in the historic period resulted from rise in diabetes prevalence, increase in disposable income and technological advances. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period were lack of awareness, rising investments in alternative blood monitoring methods and decrease in reimbursement for test strips.
Going forward, favorable government initiatives and changing lifestyles will drive growth. Factors that could hinder the growth of the blood glucose test strips market in the future include decreasing price of blood glucose test strips and high costs associated with other consumables for blood glucose testing.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Drivers
The Key drivers of the blood glucose test strips market include:
Increase In Diabetes Prevalence – During the historic period, rise in diabetes prevalence contributed to the growth of the blood glucose strips market. Nutrition and lifestyle modifications led to a rise in the prevalence of all non-communicable diseases including diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation claims that almost 7 million people are diagnosed with diabetes every year. The disease continues to be the fourth leading cause of death in the world. This pool of global diabetes patients is predicted to increase to 629 million by 2045. Increase in the size of the obese population, unhealthy eating habits, physical inactivity and increasing age are some of the key factors which led to the increase in the global prevalence of diabetes during the historic period. Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes. The Asia-Pacific region has high growth in obesity: from 2012-2016 the growth was around 5.9% in India, 5.5% in China, and 4.5% in Japan. Increase in obesity in these populations is directly proportional to the diabetes cases. Increase in the number of diabetic patients increased the demand for blood glucose strips during 2015-2019.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Restraints
The key restraints on the blood glucose test strips market include:
Lack Of Awareness – Lack of awareness limited the growth of the blood glucose strips market during the historic period. The blood glucose test strips market suffered from low levels of awareness about diabetes and its effects. In 2015, NHS UK conducted a study and found that in the UK about 3.9 million people had been diagnosed with diabetes, while over 590,000 people were unaware or undiagnosed. According to the study conducted by Public Health Foundation of India along with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University of Birmingham and University of Gottingen, only half of the Indian adults in the age group 15-49 were aware that they were diabetic. Lack of awareness limited the demand for blood glucose strips in the historic period.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Trends
Major trends influencing the blood glucose test strips market include:
Generic Blood Glucose Test Strips
Blood glucose test strip manufacturers are increasingly offering generic blood glucose test strips as a low-cost alternative to test strips of major brands. Generic blood glucose test strips are third-party strips that work with a variety of blood glucose meters and are much less expensive than their counterparts. They have been proven to perform similar to or even exceed the FDA accuracy standards for blood glucose test strips. For example, Pharma Tech Solutions, a California-based company distributes Shasta GenStrip, a more affordable alternative that can be used with One Touch and Ultra brand meters. Other generic strip brands in the market include Unistrip , GenUltimate , Equate and Relion.
Silk Strips – A Low Cost Alternative
There has been a growing popularity of test strips made from Indian silk in the blood glucose test strips market. Indian silk has wound healing properties and when combined with polypropylene creates a product with strong antibacterial properties. Clinical trials have shown that silk strips are just as accurate as paper or plastic strips. Silk strips are cost-effective and are easier to manufacture. They cost about one-quarter or one-third of the price of paper or plastic strips. Paper or plastic strips require high-priced machinery to embed electrodes, whereas silk strips cut out the mechanical needs by way of weaving electrodes with silk yarn. For instance, in 2015, Achira Labs, a Bangalore-based company, has come up with a way to weave diabetic strips from silk. Technological advancements in blood glucose monitoring devices are expected to further boost the demand for test strips made from Indian silk.
Opportunities And Recommendations In The Blood Glucose Test Strips Market
Opportunities – The top opportunities in the global blood glucose test strips market will arise in the glucose dehydrogenase segment which will gain $2.1 billion of global annual sales by 2023. The blood glucose test strips’ market size will gain the most in the USA at $0.8 billion. Market-trend-based strategies for the blood glucose test strips market include developing cost-effective generic test strips for diabetic patients, adopting innovative technologies to offer test strips at affordable prices, investing in continuous test tapes and compact systems to increase patients’ convenience and focusing on M&A growth strategies to expand their customer base and geographic presence. Player-adopted strategies in the blood glucose test strips industry include expanding product portfolio and increasing investments in research development to develop new products and developing strategic partnerships and collaborations to improve diabetes products and to develop innovative products.
Recommendations – To take advantage of the opportunities, The Business Research Company recommends the blood glucose test strips companies to produce silk strips, expand into emerging markets, offer cost effective test strips, and focus on making user friendly test strips to cater geriatric population.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Market Segmentation
The blood glucose test strips market is segmented by technology, by electrode material used, by end use, by expenditure and by geography.
By Technology-
The blood glucose test strips market is segmented by technology into
- a) Glucose Dehydrogenase
- b) Glucose Oxidase
The glucose dehydrogenase market was the largest segment of the blood glucose test strips market, accounting for 67.7% of the total in 2019 and this market is expected to be the fastest-growing segment going forward at a CAGR of 6.1%.
By Electrode Material Used -
The blood glucose test strips market is segmented by electrode material used into
- a) Thick Film Electrochemical Strips
- b) Thin Film Electrochemical Strips
- c) Optical Strips
The thick film electrochemical strips market was the largest segment of the blood glucose test strips market, accounting for 45.0% of the total in 2019.
By End Use -
The blood glucose test strips market is segmented by end use into
- a) Homecare
- b) Diagnostic Centers
- c) Hospitals
Homecare was the largest segment in the blood glucose test strips market in 2019, accounting for 60.0% of the market.
By Expenditure -
The blood glucose test strips market is segmented by expenditure into
Private Expenditure on blood glucose strips market had the highest growth rate of nearly 3.09% during the historic period.
By Geography- The blood glucose test strips market is segmented into
- o Western Europe
- UK
- Germany
- France
- Spain
- Italy
- o Asia Pacific
- China
- Japan
- India
- Australia
- o Eastern Europe
- o South America
- o Middle East
- o Africa
North America was the largest region in the blood glucose test strips market, accounting for 46.8% of the global market in 2019. It was followed by Western Europe, Asia-Pacific and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest growing regions in the blood glucose test strips market will be Asia-Pacific and Western Europe.
Blood Glucose Test Strips Competitive Landscape
Major Competitors are:
- • F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG
- • LifeScan, Inc.
- • Abbott Laboratories
- • Ascensia Diabetes Care Holdings AG
- • Terumo Corporation
Other Competitors Include:
- • B. Braun Melsungen AG
- • Omron Corporation
- • Nipro Corporation
- • AgaMatrix Inc.
- • Sannuo biosensor Ltd.
- • Beijing Yicheng
- • Yuyue
- • Acon
- • Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co.
- • Trividea Health
- • Medisana AG
- • Abbott Diabetes Care
- • GlaxoSmithKline plc
- • Bayer AG
- • Sanofi
- • LifeScan Inc.
- • Eli Lilly and Co.
- • Novo Nordisk
- • PHC Corporation
- • Johnson & Johnson