Technology has come a long way since the first blood glucose meter was developed by Anton H Clemens in 1965. Now, diabetes patients have access to continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), which measure glucose levels in real time. Products that are also generating buzz in consumer healthcare are smart rings, the most famous developed by Finland-founded company ŌURA.
ŌURA is fast becoming a household name in the wearable technology sector, thanks to its namesake smart ring. The device measures sleep, stress, and cardiovascular data, among others. It has helped the company nearly double its annual sales this year to reach around $500m, with 2.5 million rings sold globally.
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Dexcom meanwhile currently occupies around 74% of the CGM market share in the US, according to analysis by GlobalData. The diabetes company also announced its 2025 outlook at the JP Morgan 2025 Healthcare conference, forecasting $4.6bn in revenue for 2025.
Dexcom and ŌURA’s partnership, announced in November 2024, therefore seemed like a diabetes-consumer technology marriage made in biosensing heaven.
Dexcom’s $75m play
Dexcom bet on the high financial ceiling that exists by integrating its glucose monitoring capabilities into the ring, culminating in a $75m investment in ŌURA’s Series D financing round in November 2024 and forging a strategic partnership.
At the time, Dexcom’s strategy and corporate development executive vice president Matt Dolan said: “This powerful combination will attract new shared customers who want to better understand the link between activity, sleep, nutrition and their glucose.”
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By GlobalDataElia Garcia, senior medical analyst at GlobalData said the partnership “can improve adherence and behaviour changes, which is critical for long-term diabetes management. Preventive medicine is gaining more attention than corrective medicine, meaning that non-diabetic consumers might delay or prevent diabetes onset through early lifestyle interventions”.
The partnership means the two companies will enable data flow between Dexcom and ŌURA products, including Dexcom’s glucose biosensors and apps, as well as the Oura Ring and accompanying app. The first app integration is expected to roll out in the first half of 2025. Importantly, from a commercial perspective, Dexcom and ŌURA will also co-market and cross-sell each other’s products.
Whilst Garcia says both companies stand to benefit significantly, Dexcom may have an edge in commercial rewards.
“Dexcom stands to gain slightly more as it secures a new avenue for user acquisition and further cements its reputation as an innovator in connected health solutions. At this point, manufacturers need to focus on connectivity, so this partnership expands Dexcom’s ecosystem.”
For Dr Chris Dawson, head of biosensing at product and technology development company TTP, the investment is an example of how CGM manufacturers are expanding beyond their traditional core focus of type 1 diabetes (T1D).
“[Companies are] looking at opportunities that could be beneficial to both diabetic and wellness markets. Having access to additional metrics like heart rate, body temperature, blood oxygen, and motion is certainly interesting, but the real value-add will be in the ability to reliably extract real insights out of this,” says Dawson.
CGM’s connectivity trend
CGMs themselves already ushered in a wave of empowerment for diabetes patients, giving users real-time updates on glucose levels without the need for constant finger prick tests.
Simon Openshaw, a patient living with T1D, says he finds CGMs “very useful”.
He comments: “I hated having to do blood tests each day so never really knew what my blood sugar readings were and often just guessed. I can now manage my insulin based on my food intake more accurately. I connect to my smartphone and probably look at my levels 15 times per day. The result is that my blood sugar levels remain at a reasonable level at all times.”
Medical Device Network previously investigated the proliferation of the CGM market in mid-2023, and since then, in a relatively short space of time, the technology available has remarkably upgraded. Dexcom, for instance, won US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the first over-the-counter CGM in March 2024. The authorisation for their product, called Stelo, was a milestone in diabetes care as it opened the technology to 25 million Americans living with type 2 diabetes who do not use insulin and would not normally be covered for the device.
Dawson said over-the-counter (OTC) CGMs make “proactive glucose monitoring available to those who may not have access through traditional insurance-backed routes”.
A lot of CGM transformation has come in the device’s ability to connect to other technologies such as smartphones, smartwatches, and now smart rings. Dexcom’s products even link to Garmin bike computers if they run the necessary apps. This connectivity allows users to view glucose levels during activities whilst cycling without looking at a smartphone. At the heart of these integrations is streamlining the synergy between CGMs and everyday devices.
“It underscores a trend toward more personalised, user-friendly, and data-rich healthcare solutions that extend beyond traditional diabetes management to include broader lifestyle insights,” says Garcia.
Dexcom’s partnership with ŌURA is a key milestone in diabetes management as it sees two different markets amalgamating.
“By associating with ŌURA’s lifestyle-focused user base, Dexcom can reach non-diabetic consumers with prediabetes or those interested in metabolic health monitoring, tapping into a broader wellness market,” says Garcia.
“For ŌURA, the glucose integration increases the utility of the OURA Ring beyond wellness which could lead to greater market penetration in healthcare by activating disease management.”
The market is only getting bigger too as diabetes prevalence continues to rise. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 38.4 million people in the US will have diabetes in 2021, with the total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes at $412.9bn in 2022.
Future pacts inevitable
Dexcom and ŌURA joining forces is far from the only high-profile diabetes-based partnership in recent years – Medtronic and Abbott formed an unlikely collaboration to advance both companies’ diabetes devices in August 2024. Dexcom and ŌURA have certainly however forged a unique market path between FDA-approved devices and consumer technology with wide commercial reach.
“If both companies are able to navigate some of the challenges around data robustness and reliability and show that they can deliver actionable insights that drive changes in user behaviours and improvements in health outcomes, then it’s inevitable that other players in this space will be looking to create similar partnerships,” says Garcia.
Ultimately, the role of glucose monitoring in healthcare is only going to grow, and by virtue so will the technology at its heart.
“CGMs are likely to become part of broader health ecosystems for better healthcare analytics,” she concludes.
