Blood glucose meter market: this world is undergoing drastic changes.

The market for self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG), with all its blood glucose (BG) meters and test strips, has experienced a constant increase in sales for a number of years with a good margin. If you attended the 2012 European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting in Berlin, you would have gained the impression that this is a truly prosperous business. At least 20 companies from all over the world—most of the smaller ones are from Southeast Asia—offered their products. The giants of this business—Roche Diagnostics, Bayer, LifeScan—had large booths similar to those of pharmaceutical companies such as Novo and Eli Lilly. Interestingly enough, Abbott had no booth at this meeting. Could this be the writing on the wall?