An Empirical Review of Key Glucose Monitoring Devices: Product Iterations and Patent Protection.

Manufacturers of blood glucose monitoring systems frequently modified their devices and obtained patent protection related to these device modifications. The therapeutic value of these new modifications should be critically evaluated and balanced against their additional cost. Older glucose monitoring devices that were marketed in decades past are now in the public domain and no longer protected by patents. Newer devices will join them as their patents expire. Increased demand from people with diabetes and the health care system for older, off-patent devices would provide an incentive for the medical device industry to make these devices more widely available, enabling good care at lower cost when such devices are substantially equivalent in effectiveness and safety. In turn, availability and awareness of older, off-patent devices could help stimulate such demand.