Dexcom’s New Professional CGM Helps Improve Diabetes Outcomes

By Jimmy McDermott and Albert Cai

The tool for people with diabetes to use with their healthcare professionals will launch in early 2020, extending CGM further! Features include fully disposable Bluetooth transmitter, both real-time and blinded options, no fingersticks, and 10-day wear

Dexcom announced that the FDA has cleared its G6 Pro, a new “professional” continuous glucose monitor (CGM). The G6 Pro gives doctors and nurses and other healthcare professionals a better tool to assess time-in-range and understand blood glucose patterns in a wide range of people with diabetes. Click here to learn more about time-in-range and how this measurement can improve diabetes management and health outcomes.

G6 Pro will be released to healthcare professionals in early 2020. It uses the same G6 sensor as the available consumer device – meaning 10-day wear, no fingerstick calibration, and one-button automatic insertion – and moves to a new fully disposable Bluetooth transmitter. This will make it easier for clinics to use professional CGM, since the prior Dexcom G4 Professional system had a reusable transmitter that had to be disinfected at the clinic and was often lost.

Dexcom’s Senior US Medical Director, Dr. Tomas Walker told us that there are people struggling to manage their diabetes in every clinic in the world. “If we make a product that’s easily usable by clinicians, easily usable for patients, and flexible in who receives the blood sugar data," he said, "we are changing the whole mindset about CGM. It’s about changing the opportunity for patients and clinicians to better manage diabetes."

In an improvement over other professional CGMs, G6 Pro offers both real-time and blinded modes, and the option to use the G6 app to view data in its unblinded (real-time) mode. The term “Pro” means that this CGM is owned by a clinic: a healthcare professional inserts G6 Pro at a visit, the sensor is worn for ten days at home, and then data is downloaded to Dexcom Clarity to understand the person’s glucose patterns and statistics.

• The real-time mode for G6 Pro enables users to see their blood glucose data every five minutes, showing how medicine, food, exercise, stress, sleep, and other factors affect their blood sugar. It allows people to “try” the Dexcom G6 before committing to buying their own personal system.

• The blinded mode means that users can’t see their blood sugar data until they meet with their healthcare professional to review it together.

In cost, professional CGM usually has better insurance coverage than personal CGM, especially for people with type 2 diabetes and prediabetes. This means that far more people may be able to get the benefits of CGM, perhaps through “intermittent” wear models, in which people wear the G6 Pro system a few times per year. Dexcom expects G6 Pro to be priced similarly to other professional CGMs on the market. Currently, healthcare professionals pay around $60 for each FreeStyle Libre Pro sensor (14 days) and $65 for its reusable handheld receiver.

The new technology will allow people with diabetes to work with their healthcare professionals to better understand their time-in-range and improve their diabetes management, helping them toward better health by reducing hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. Dr. Walker said, "CGM really is becoming the standard of care for diabetes, and I’ve seen it across the spectrum from specialty offices to primary care." We are excited about G6 Pro and its potential to bring CGM access to more people.