When was continuous glucose monitoring technology for diabetes introduced?

Continuous glucose monitor (CGM) technology has become available in stages over the past decade or so, and the technology continues to improve.  The first commercially available system widely available was the Glucowatch, a system that did not require the skin to be broken but that most people found unreliable.  Over the past 4 to 5 years, several other commercial systems have become available which require a catheter to be inserted through the skin but which yield much more reliable results.  Commercial systems are available from MiniMed Metronic, which integrates its CGM with their insulin pump system, though for now the person with diabetes still has to manually control pump dosing.  The Dex-Com corporation is working with the Animas insulin pump company to develop a similarly integrated system.  Abbott Laboratories has a system which has had some recalls and order backlogs, but which some users have found satisfactory. 

The present systems work fairly well in many people, but I would say they are all still not quite ready for prime-time, meaning we are still waiting for systems that are easier to use, more reliable and less expensive.  And of course the Holy Grail is a fully integrated "closed loop" system or "artificial pancreas."  Such systems are in clinical trial, but it will be several years at least until they are available.  Nonetheless, the present systems are a major advance and extremely useful, especially for those with type 1 diabetes who have volatile blood sugars. 

Scientific and university research into CGM-like sensors goes back at least to 1967, but as far as we diabetics are concerned, this whole CGM thing really got off the ground in 1996. That’s when the upstart medical technology firm MiniMed (later purchased by the giant medical device company Medtronic) conducted the first clinical trial of a continuous glucose sensor in the United States.

By 1999 MiniMed received FDA approval for the first CGM device in the USA. It was what is called a retrospective CGM device, in other words a system that looks backwards.

After Med-T bought MiniMed, their CGM system went through another evolution and in 2003 came out as the CGMS System Gold.

It wasn’t until 2005 that the first patient oriented CGM was released in the USA, although in a small way. Med-T released the system in only seven cities, and it had to be prescribed by an endocrinologist. It was called the Guardian.