A glucometer is a glucose monitor used to measure the amount of sugar in the blood. Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics need to monitor their sugar intake, so they don't experience blood-sugar highs and lows. Most diabetics test their sugar one to four times a day. The glucometer has two parts: the lancet device for pricking the finger and the meter for measuring the blood droplet. As well as the two devices, there are lancets or needles for the lancet device and test strips that absorb the blood for meter readings.

Glucometers are many and varied. The more expensive modelsm such as the UltraSmart by Lifescan, collect data and create charts so your can analyze your sugar readings. You can also take averages weekly and monthly, as well as after eating and before eating. Simpler meters read the blood-sugar level and store the data.

You usually take blood samples from the fingers for the most accurate readings. Wash your hands with warm, soapy water. Rub an alcohol prep pad on the finger you intend to prick. Massage the finger so the blood flows to the tip. Cock the lancing device so the needle is ready. Push the lancet down onto the finger and push the button to release the needle. The needle will create a small prick on the fingertip. Continue to massage the finger until a round droplet of blood appears. Place the testing strip into the meter. This turns the meter on. Place the meter strip under the droplet, so the blood is drawn onto the strip and into the meter. It takes five seconds for the meter to read the blood and display the results.

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Research and Markets Ltd valued the world market for human insulin at $4.5 billion in 2002. Europe accounted for 40 percent of the market and the U.S. for 33 percent. They expect the world market to reach $7.9 billion by 2007.

World-wide insulin sales reached $4.7 billion in 2003, according to analysts from SG Cowen Securities Corporation, a U.S. securities and investment banking firm focused on the emerging growth sectors of health care and other markets. They reported this at a March 2004 investment conference in Boston last week, according to Kelly Close in Diabetes Close Up, V3, #6 March 17, 2004. Her website is http://www.closeconcerns.com.

In the U.S. Lilly had an 86 percent share of the retail pharmacy market in 1999 compared to Novo's 14 percent. But Lilly's share drops to 78 percent when you factor in insulin use in hospitals and elsewhere where prescriptions aren't required. Only these two companies manufactured insulin sold in the United States in 1999, although Aventis subsequently took the market by storm with its introduction of very long-acting Lantus insulin.

In the United Kingdom there is a relatively minor insulin manufacturer, CP Pharmaceuticals, which Wockhardt Ltd. recently purchased. This company also exports its insulins, including porcine and bovine insulin, to people in the United States on a personal use basis. The URL is http://www.cppharma.co.uk/

Brasil is another country with its own source of insulin, Biobrás. Insulin was formerly manufactured in India by Boots Pharmaceuticals, which Knoll Pharmaceuticals Ltd. purchased in 1995. But Knoll apparently no longer manufactures insulin.

In Argentina, Laboratorios Beta manufactures Betasint, bovine and porcine insulin and Betalin, human insulin.

India now also has two or more companies that manufactures insulin there. Wockhardt Limited produces recombinant human insulin. The Indian press reports that Shreya Life Sciences Pvt Ltd in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) has launched recombinant human insulin under the brand name Recosulin. Further, in August 2004 Biocon's recombinant human insulin was expected to be on the market in three months.

Diosynth, an Akzo Nobel business unit, is a leading manufacturer of insulin, but does not sell it to consumers.

Two companies in Poland, Polfa Tarchomin and Bioton, manufacture human insulin, according to The Warsaw Business Journal.

Courtesy: David Mendosa, Writer

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Updated February 13, 2010:

• Bayer Diagnostic Care in Sunnyvale, California, now offers the A1CNow directly to people with diabetes with packs of two cartridges. The URL is
  http://a1cnow.com/
  
  
• Quotient Diagnostics in London, England, is developing a low-cost instrument and cartridge that will permit A1C testing at full standards of laboratory precision and accuracy within the scope of a single clinic visit. While initially the company is concentrating on rapid, easy, and inexpensive A1C testing at the point of care, a company representative advises me that the technology is simple enough to adapt for home use. Although at first the company is focusing on A1C, they intend to add fructosamine testing and possibly others such as microalbumin. The URL is
  http://www.quotientdiagnostics.co.uk

• Five companies now offer test kits that allow FDA-approved at-home testing of A1C (SpectRx has discontinued its SimpleChoice A1C test kit). You generally send in the sample and get the results back in the mail.

  1. Heritage Labs International LLC in Olathe, Kansas, offers the "Appraise Diabetes A1c Test" kit. We can take the test at home, then mail it to Heritage Labs. We can request to have the results delivered online via a secure website or through the mail. Processing can take as few as three days. The $19.95 FDA-approved kit is available at Wal-Mart under the Reli-On A1c Test brand name and at Rite-Aid drugstores under the Appraise brand name. The URL is
     http://www.appraisetests.com/home.aspx
     
     
  2. Diabetech in Dallas offers the mail-in HomeCheck A1c for $29.95 plus $5.39 shipping and handling. The URL is
     http://www.diabetech.net/a1c.html
     
     
  3. Diabetes Technologies Inc. in Thomasville, Georgia, offers the Accu-Base Hemoglobin A1C Sample Collection Kit for $21.95 plus $3.85 shipping. It is available either over-the-counter or by prescription.The URL is
     http://www.diabetestechnologies.com/.
     
     
  4. FlexSite Diagnostics Inc. in Palm City, Florida, offers the A1C At Home collection kit. FlexSite's kit uses a filter paper process. One test is currently (June 24, 2006) on sale for $9.95. The URL is either
     http://www.flexsite.com/ and http://www.alwaysincontrol.com/.