People with diabetes that do not have access to an insulin pump – or simply do not wish to use one – now have greater choice due to the emergence of new technologies such as smart insulin pens, caps and attachments, says GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company notes that these innovations improve diabetic management by providing people with data that can help them adhere to their treatment regime, as well as optimize insulin dosage and reduce medication errors.

Tina Deng, MSc, Principal Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Smart technology is being applied to all areas of life to make things easier, and it is about time that diabetes management got involved. Standard insulin pens currently represent around 65% of the insulin delivery market, and multiple companies are flocking to the natural next step of digitization. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of pens were tech-enabled in one way or another by 2030.”

Medtronic recently released new data for its InPen, demonstrating that patients with diabetes can better control blood sugar levels and reduce instances of hypoglycemia with data-driven insight.

Deng continues: “The insulin dose data are transferred wirelessly from the smart pen to a smartphone app that can also receive data from a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), enabling automatic adjustment of insulin doses. This was only implemented traditionally when using an insulin pump. In addition of integration with CGMs, other innovations of smart pens focus on connection with digital diabetic management platforms, such as Roche’s mySugr and Glooko.

According to GlobalData analysis, the insulin delivery market, covering both insulin pens and pumps, was valued at $13.8bn in 2020 and this is expected to reach $26.8bn by 2030. The promising data for smart pens such as InPen is expected to increase device awareness for both patients and diabetes care providers, accelerating the growth of the insulin pens segment.

Deng adds: “While the activities in the insulin pens segment will see an impressive 5.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2021 to 2030, the insulin pumps segment will see 7.3% growth due to the development of novel hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery units, also known as an ‘artificial pancreas’. These systems combine an insulin pump with a CGM and a computer program to automatically deliver insulin throughout the day using real-time CGM data.”