Home diagnostics

Drug Store News, May 20, 1996

Diabetes diagnostic equipment brought drug stores double-digit growth last year. Such products are, unquestionably, a drug store's stock in trade, and the stores that sell the most are those that efficiently dispense information and answer questions about both the equipment and the condition.

Growth in the category is related in part to the aging of the population. Typically, the onset of Type 2 diabetes does not occur until age 50 or older. Patients with Type 2 diabetes make up an estimated 90 percent of the diabetic population. (Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, occurs in childhood.)

Category growth may also be attributed to improved diagnostic techniques. Physicians are testing for diabetes more frequently, and perhaps catching it earlier.

Said Rick Taylor, trade marketing manager for LifeScan, a Johnson & Johnson company, "Managed care organizations want to identify people with diabetes. The DCCT [Diabetes Control and Complications Trial] conducted by National Institutes of Health says you can reduce long-term complications from diabetes up to 60 percent with active control and monitoring. Early diagnosis, with control and monitoring, will help control healthcare costs."

Patient compliance is a core issue in the category. In some cases, patients simply choose to ignore their condition rather than address the problem. For others, such as those with additional physical ailments including tremors or poor eyesight, regular blood testing and monitoring are difficult and compliance errors are frequent.

Attempts at better monitoring

With new blood glucose meters and attendant products, manufacturers are attempting to address compliance problems--making it faster and easier for patients to monitor their condition.

Boehringer Mannheim's Softclix pain-free lances device allows the user to adjust the lances penetration depth and reduce side-to-side motion that tears tissue and causes discomfort. The company's AccuChek Instant blood glucose meter produces accurate blood glucose readings in 12 seconds.

LifeScan's new SureStep System was created to meet the needs of patients who suffer from neurological conditions and those who are visually impaired. (An estimated 38 percent of diabetics are visually impaired, and many others suffer from occasional blurred vision caused by the condition.) The new system allows patients to touch the test strip to the blood for greater flexibility.

"It's a very forgiving system, " Taylor noted. "If you don,t apply enough blood, the strip will tell you (a blue dot confirms that enough blood has been applied) end you can dab again. You won't waste test strips." The meter features a large display and provides results in as few as 16 seconds.

"The idea is not to contribute to the person's frustration," Taylor said. "We wanted to find the easiest, most convenient way to give quick and accurate results so people can get on with their lives."

MediSense, which was recently acquired by Abbott Laboratories, just introduced Precision Q.I.D., which also lets patients take the strip to the finger or the finger to the strip.

As manufacturers work to make diabetes monitoring adaptable to a patient's lifestyle, some drug stores, too, are working to bring diabetes control to the mainstream. One strategy is promoting the American Diabetes Month (November) by featuring diagnostic equipment and related products in newspaper FSIs.

"It's important to mainstream diabetes and not closet it," Taylor added. "If people try to ignore it, it will hurt them."