• by Les Luchter , September 9, 2024

Image above: Stelo wearer

Less than two weeks after competitor Dexcom launched Stelo, the U.S.’s first over-the-counter (OTC) continuous glucose monitor (CGM), Abbott on Thursday followed suit with the debut of Lingo, its own OTC CGM device.

Over-the counter in this case doesn’t involve actual drugstore counters, since both wearable products are being sold online only. 

Stelo marks Dexcom’s debut in both the OTC and D2C markets, while Abbott has a history in those categories through its baby formula and nutrition products.

The potential market for CGMs is huge.

Dexcom has projected $40 million in Stelo sales this year, while, in the U.S. and Europe alone, “if you take a single-digit penetration rate… you're looking at a multibillion opportunity,” Abbott chairman and chief executive officer Robert B. Ford said about Lingo during a July earnings call.

Abbott is marketing Lingo to “people interested in improving their overall health and wellness,” with the company explaining that "glucose is a powerful signal of your body's unique response to food and lifestyle."

A second Abbott OTC CGM device, called Libre Rio, will be marketed to prediabetics and those with type 2 diabetes who do not use insulin. It was been previously promised for launch this summer, giving Abbott a couple more weeks to fulfill that aim.

Dexcom’s Stelo covers all the above audiences: type 2 diabetics who don’t use insulin, pre-diabetics and people who, in the words of chief executive officer Kevin Sayer, are “just doing this for health.”

Sayer, speaking at the recent 2024 Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference, reported “very good” demand for Stelo during its first couple of weeks in the market.

“We went live on Amazon at 11 p.m. on Sunday night [August 25]. One of our people ordered at 11.02, and she had it at 7 o 'clock the next morning,” he said, noting that such turnaround is atypical for medical devices.

As a wearable health device, Stelo provides such features as diet recommendations, with Sayer quoting one user as saying, “I've done this for a week. I've lost two pounds. And all I'm doing is trying to stay between these lines.”

“I've had conversations with people about the fitness side,” Sayer continued. “Somebody said their trainer is making everybody in his gym put on a Stelo. He said, ‘I've learned more from my Stelo about my nutrition and what's going on in my body than anything I've ever done.”

The data generated by Stelo makes the product good for prospective partnerships, Sayer noted. “For example, if you're seeing data for one health and nutrition app on your phone, put the Stelo data in there and let them compute what's going to happen with your glucose values based on what you eat. We think that glucose signal can be valuable across the board when it comes to health."

Stelo sells for $99 on a one-time basis for a month of monitoring, or $89 a month on a subscription basis, with Dexcom executive vice president and chief financial offer Jereme Sylvain reporting that most people have been opting for the subscription, but that the more important data will be how many people keep going into the second month.

Abbott’s Libre is priced at $49 for two weeks, $89 for four weeks, or $249 for 12 weeks.

In a separate marketing development, Decxom, which has featured Nick Jonas in past advertising, including a 2023 Super Bowl spot, is continuing on the boy band front. It recently introduced Lance Bass of NSYNC as a new brand ambassador, and Bass and Dexcom Chief Operating Officer Jake Leach have now been tapped for a joint presentation next month at the HLTH 2024 confab on Las Vegas.