Growing demand for home care medical wearables such as glucose monitoring and food quality protection will contribute to annual growth of 11% in the global biosensors market, expected to double to $40 billion by 2026, according to one research firm.
The global biosensors market reached $18.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $40.3 billion by the end of 2025, according to a recent report by market research firm AllTheResearch.
In North America, a contributing factor for the growth will be increased government funding for research into advanced biosensors alongside a surge in the use of biosensors for food quality monitoring, the researchers said. Nanotechnology-based sensors are also expected to add to growth throughout the globe.
The researchers divide biosensors into wearables and non-wearables with several sensor segments: electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, thermal and nanomechanical.
Their report names 10 key players in what is otherwise a fragmented market with multiple emerging players. Those 10 are: Abbott Laboratories, Agamatrix Holdings LLC (now WaveForm Diabetes), DowDupont Inc., F. Hoffmann La Roche, General Electric, Lifescan Inc., Medtronic, Nova Biochemical, PHC Holdings Co. and Siemens.
In addition to developing products, the companies in biosensors are active in mergers and acquisitions. In one example, WaveForm Technologies partnered with A. Menarini in 2019 to supply continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology in the regions of Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Asia to meet the rising prevalence of diabetes. Menarini oversees sales, marketing and customer support for WaveForm’s CGM, the researchers at AllTheResearch said.
In June, Agamatrix Holdings announced a corporate name change to WaveForm Diabetes to reflect its commitment to diabetes care. At that time, Waveform announced an agreement with Bayer to provide CGM to patients in China. The agreement calls for WaveForm to develop a 15-day wearable CGM while Bayer will be responsible for sales and customer support in China.
China has 116 million people age 20 or older living with diabetes, a figure expected to grow to 140 million over the next decade, according to the International Diabetes Federation.
WaveForm’s Cascade CGM, first announced a year ago, includes patented innovations such as a virtually pain-free insertion process that is needle-free, extended wear time and environmentally friendly, reusable parts.
How it works: A thin wearable sensor collects glucose data minute-to-minute from just below the skin which is processed and wirelessly transferred via Bluetooth to a mobile app using Android or iOS with a small transmitter. The product has received European CE Mark approval and the company anticipates U.S. FDA review with commercialization as soon as 2021.
WaveForm’s wearable sensor lasts 14 days and is disposable. It uses a thin, flexible wire that detects glucose via a special coating. The sensor interacts with interstitial fluid surrounding the cells beneath the skin to constantly measure glucose. The small transmitter connected to the sensor is reusable and relies on Bluetooth to transfer the glucose data to the smartphone app. A sensor applicator device, which looks like a computer mouse, is used to insert each sensor with the push of a button.
WaveForm Diabetes is a holding company with two businesses for diabetes care, AgaMatrix and WaveForm Technologies. The latter business is developing a closed loop insulin delivery platform for patients living with diabetes. Since 2001, AgaMatrix has launched 17 blood glucose monitoring products and has produced 8 million blood glucose monitors and 3 billion test strips with manufacturing and engineering facilities in Salem, New Hampshire and Guangdong Province, China.