One Drop Blood Glucose Monitoring Kit for iPhone Launches on Apple.com

[amgrimm]

SPOCK: Captain, you're asking me to work with equipment which hardly very far ahead of stone knives and bearskins.

 

[Buran]

SPOCK: Captain, you're asking me to work with equipment which hardly very far ahead of stone knives and bearskins.

And then Kirk builds a cannon out of a stick of bamboo. Starfleet people are pretty resourceful!

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Ordered one; I hope this will serve me well and make it easier to share data with my endocrinologist. I don't always wear my CGM, and when I don't it's hard to let them know what my manual test results were.

Glucose meters are eligible for FSA reimbursement, so this is a good use of half of the remaining funds from 2016's FSA. I'll have to decide whether to pay for the test strips via FSA as well (that's also an eligible expense) or pay out of pocket, but either way, the cost for this is about the same as what I pay now for lancets and test strips through an ongoing prescription. If it doesn't work out, I can always use my current meter.

As for lancing devices, the cost for those is trivial. It's always been the case that the test strips are the profit center. And, unfortunately, every meter uses a different type of test strip so it's impossible to buy a generic strip that works with brand-name meters. It's disgusting. At least this meter has a flat-rate monthly price for whatever number of test strips you need, and the amount you get is the amount you actually need/use. I looked at my copay history and the comparison is favorable for me.

According to the FAQ, the lancing device uses generic lancets. That's something that'll cost less than the meter I've got now, as I'm not sure that generic lancets work with its lancing device. You can get a box of generic lancets (commonly 100 per box) for a few dollars at most major pharmacies, and not everyone replaces the lancet with each test so each box can last a long time. (Not advised, but people do it). Lancets do not require a prescription to purchase.

The no-prescription-required deal here is also good. I do maintain prescriptions for the medications I use and I do easily get prescription renewals from my clinic, but not having to have one is one less hassle to remember to handle.

I have a Verio meter now and I haven't been happy with its app or its sharing options. My copay is similar to yours, but the particular meter I am using right now doesn't work with generic lancets to the best of my knowledge. Keeping roughly the same monthly cost for the amount of test strips I need with better app support and better sharing is personally worth it for me.

I did once try to switch to a different brand of meter, but my insurer refused to cover it as it wasn't a OneTouch meter. That bothered me, as I think I should be free to use whatever meter I'd like to use as long as it meets FDA requirements as all such meters are required to do. Why is one meter okay but another is not?

I've also had this problem with some medications, and now I have to use one that is painful to administer instead of another that was painless because my insurer refused to cover the painless one and out of pocket it was hundreds of dollars. Both treat the same condition, are FDA approved for the same "label", and have the same effect/results. I never got a satisfactory explanation, either.

I like the Verio meter, but for the twice a day requirement, it works for me. I'm with you on the sharing part of it. I'm a bit of two minds on the "gotta use LifeTouch" thing. Part of me sees it your way, and the other part sees it the insurance company's way, where they're in the business to make money, and if Lifescan gives them strips for cheap, then they can spend less money. BTW, I HATED the blue ones, with too many "Error 5" (not enough blood on the strip...)

I do think that this methodology will break soon on the blood testing, but the CGM companies may be a mitigating factor.

OK, let me back the truck up a bit...
There are 3 forces at play here...
1. CGM companies making fingersticks a rarity. Dexcom working on the 2 week CGM, and the FDA allowing those on the Dexcom (may be others) G5 able to dose from them. This is a move away from doing fingertip BG testing, putting pressure on 2 and 3, below.
2. Companies like One Drop (odd name... how many drops are other diabetic companies requiring?) doing the subscription model, based on usage. (Privacy concerns notwithstanding - "we get to see everything that you do in the blood testing world..." Before CGMs, when I was high, I'd test every 30 minutes to be sure the insulin was working) This is a pressure on companies like Lifescan.
3. And lastly, the "stabilizing" force of the current contenders, led by Lifescan, where they sell to the insurance companies (and their fulfillment contractors, like Express Scripts) very cheap (in relation to going to the store... really? $150 for 100 test strips?), and that lets them use them as formulary drugs. This puts pressure on the other companies to come up with something revolutionary (Item #2 above).

I think this battle will continue on for another 10 years, and CGM companies are probably going to win this. For a lot of diabetics, the convenience of one puncture per 2 weeks (yeah, I know they fall off, but Dexcom is really good about replacing them) is a lot better than the 1 puncture in a nerve centric area (fingertips).

Now, to get the FAA to let me use my CGM when I fly, instead of requiring me to poke my fingers once an hour, while flying a Cessna.

 

[Buran]

Once an hour? That's excessive and ridiculous. I use a CGM so I can avoid that hassle. If your treatment is endocrinologist-approved and you use an FDA-approved meter and CGM, and your blood sugar levels and A1C levels are great, then why would a doctor require you to do that?

 

[JeffyTheQuik]

Once an hour? That's excessive and ridiculous. I use a CGM so I can avoid that hassle. If your treatment is endocrinologist-approved and you use an FDA-approved meter and CGM, and your blood sugar levels and A1C levels are great, then why would a doctor require you to do that?

That might be old school for setting basal rates, but after that, the most I was required to do was 6x/day.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

Fair warning that I'm not diabetic myself (ny fiancé is Type I), but this seems like a "premium" version of meters that already exist.

My fiancé has been able to get a free meter from his endocrinologist and get his strips covered with a copay for a while now. He has the OneTouch smart meter that he got from the diabetic educators at the local hospital. He was also just able to get his Dexcom CGM and a Tandem t:flex pump fully covered by meeting his out of pocket maximum before the end of 2016 (a major improvement over uskngn syringes with short and long acting insulin and a regular, old meter!)

I think what we would love is for Tandem to get out of 2007 and bring out updated pumps with BT that can sync to a mobile device. Currently he has to plug his pump into a computer and use an intermediary app to upload to Tandem's website. The really crummy part is that the only compatible computer we have is his ThinkPad running Win7. They had not updated their app to run on even Yosemite.

So a BT pump that works with his BT CGM and BT meter as a backup that all sync with his iPhone and can be viewed in one app would be amazing! And being able to give a provider access to the uploaded information so they don't have to keep track of usernames and passwords.

Of course I have a feeling that if diabetic device companies are allowed to continue to innovate, we are well on our way to a fully automated artificial pancreas.

 

[Buran]

The big deal here is that the test strips and meter are available for a good price (comparable to deductibles of health plans) without needing a prescription, which means that the cost is far more reasonable for people who don't have health insurance. The software is also better than anything OneTouch makes.

 

[KUguardgrl13]

The big deal here is that the test strips and meter are available for a good price (comparable to deductibles of health plans) without needing a prescription, which means that the cost is far more reasonable for people who don't have health insurance. The software is also better than anything OneTouch makes.

That is a fair point with the fate of the ACA hanging in the balance.

 

[kiwipeso1]

I use the cheaper and more widely available iHealth glucose bluetooth smart meter, and I have a couple of backup headphone jack meters.
I can get the test strips for the same price as the unreliable caresens meters which are given away at all GP offices in NZ, so I don't bother with getting a prescription for the unreliable subsidised caresens system, and just stick to iHealth.

US diabetics should find that iHealth is about half the price of one drop, and no need for subscription services for test strips. Also, you can get iHealth stuff everywhere north of Antartica.

[Edit] these prices would be fair if it was in NZ$, aka "the kiwipeso". US$ it's a ripoff.

 

[Buran]

I use the cheaper and more widely available iHealth glucose bluetooth smart meter, and I have a couple of backup headphone jack meters.
I can get the test strips for the same price as the unreliable caresens meters which are given away at all GP offices in NZ, so I don't bother with getting a prescription for the unreliable subsidised caresens system, and just stick to iHealth.

US diabetics should find that iHealth is about half the price of one drop, and no need for subscription services for test strips. Also, you can get iHealth stuff everywhere north of Antartica.

[Edit] these prices would be fair if it was in NZ$, aka "the kiwipeso". US$ it's a ripoff.

I took a look at the iHealth site and right away I see a glaring error on the front page for the glucosimeter: "The only glucose monitoring system that works wirelessly with your smartphone." One Drop does the same, OneTouch has a (badly designed) meter that does the same, and I think I've read in passing of another but I can't recall its name. If the maker of the product makes a demonstrably false statement like that front and center before I've even clicked a link, often are they making improvements? It doesn't fill me with confidence that the product isn't abandonware and we just don't know it.

The price quoted for test strips is 25 cents (US) per strip. I can order up to 300 from One Drop, which works out to 13 cents a strip. The iHealth meter is a fair bit larger than the One Drop meter, too, and likely requires more-frequent charging.

Though I don't think One Drop is available in NZ yet, I do think One Drop is the better deal, plus their site doesn't make provably false claims.

 

[kiwipeso1]

The iHealth site hasn't updated to acknowledge the late comers to the market. Is that a big deal to you they they don't talk about market minnows such as this kickstarter project in the article.

Of course, you are free to claim that it is abandonware, but it is a global company based in North American, European, Pacific and Asian countries, with multiple points of supply across the world. (Yeah, right it's abandonware !)

iHealth meters come in 2 varieties, bluetooth or headphone jack. Both use the same test strips which are twice as accurate as the south korean Caresens test strips due to a 40% larger sample size of 0.7µ litre compared to 0.5µ litre for Caresens, and that is good for either charging every 200 reads on the bluetooth, or standard watch batteries for the headphone model.
(In practice, as you will need to sync the app with the meter after every vial of 25, a bluetooth meter is best to charge at the end of a 50 pack rather than delay charging all the way to every other month. This is mainly because it is pointless to wait for the device to charge from flat when you need to take a reading, even if only pre-diabetic like I am.)

So your only concern is that iHealth hasn't acknowledged the newcomers since iHealth pioneered the smart meters in 2013, and that you'd rather be tied to the subscription system of couriered deliveries to your home than be able to go to a shop and just buy it without waiting in for a parcel to be abandoned at your door for the neighbours to steal ?

The US prices don't mean anything more than you're not getting a fair deal on pharmaceuticals in the USA, but that is ultimately a political question of the backwards US healthcare system being on par with third world nations.
Incidentally, the One Drop strips are clearly being sold at a loss at that price point, so I would say they are probably on a razor-blade sales model, where the running cost of the blades pays for the cheap razor.

I would personally be reluctant to recommend this system of One Drop to anyone but Americans, as the US public are the least likely to travel globally in the free world. As a kiwi, a quarter of my country is overseas at any time, including a quarter of my immediate family. So, I find it important that I can obtain test strips pretty much anywhere I will go in the world, even the country I won't travel to for the next 8 years 😉

And lastly, why would you want to force companies to acknowledge their competition ? The free market doesn't work like that, unless it is a company declaring their continued production in a country that the opposition has closed a factory in.
(As a local chocolate manufacturer has said about Cadbury closing their NZ factory, that they are a local employer who will remain in New Zealand as a family business. Classic example of using consumer goodwill against competitors.)
(Or if you'd like a US centric response, you won't find Coke talking about Pepsi and Sodastream on their website unless it's some news like "Coke is proudly committed to making Coca-Cola in America great again, unlike our rival's factories in Mexico, we employ Americans.")

 

[rauls4]

The readings ranged wildly from the get go. I contacted them and after a dozen conversations of them trying to justify why their reader accuracy was so poor they agreed to send a replacement. I waited for several weeks and the replacement never came.

Cancelling the account itself was needlessly cumbersome.

In one of my conversations with them they suggested I should do two readings every time (even though that did not help accuracy at all). I told them they should rename themselves TwoDrops instead of OneDrop.

The product itself looks good online but it's no more than chrome coated cheap plastic.

Overall this was a terrible experience. $100 later and a after lot of frustration and disappointment, I am going back to my AccuCheck Aviva which has always been accurate and never fluctuates more than a few mg, the OneDrop would fluctuate sometimes 50mg and they claimed this was normal ):-(

 

[kiwipeso1]

The readings ranged wildly from the get go. I contacted them and after a dozen conversations of them trying to justify why their reader accuracy was so poor they agreed to send a replacement. I waited for several weeks and the replacement never came.

Cancelling the account itself was needlessly cumbersome.

In one of my conversations with them they suggested I should do two readings every time (even though that did not help accuracy at all). I told them they should rename themselves TwoDrops instead of OneDrop.

The product itself looks good online but it's no more than chrome coated cheap plastic.

Overall this was a terrible experience. $100 later and a after lot of frustration and disappointment, I am going back to my AccuCheck Aviva which has always been accurate and never fluctuates more than a few mg, the OneDrop would fluctuate sometimes 50mg and they claimed this was normal ):-(

As I've been saying for a while on this thread, it seems the OneDrop is a fly by night outfit that you wouldn't want to trust important readings to rely upon.
If you want a smart glucose meter that is available everywhere north of Antarctica, get iHealth, as it is accurate.