Comment by otherme123
6 hours ago
The way to sell new cheap stuff is to give it away for a period of time, with the obligation to buy the reactives from you (you just buy them and re-tag, as if they where specific for your machine). This way the lab can test the reliability of the machine without any risk.
Also, don't dismiss the user end here: people using the thermo are used to other interface(s), and they will complain endlessly about how bad it is if they fail to, for example, program the machine even if it is their fault. They don't want to think or struggle. If they do, they will tell their supervisor that the machine is crap, and you won't sell it even for 10$.
This is how the consumer Glucose meter market works. The machine is free and it only accept their rebranded sticks.
It's really crazy.
$20 for the glucose meter. $1 for each test strip. And you are expected to be testing yourself around 10 times per day.
CGMs are much cheaper by comparison since it's a one time sensor installment for 15 days worth of monitoring. Though you are still looking at anywhere from $100/$300 per 15 day sensor.
Nuts considering these sensors are literally just a metal spike hooked into a small DSP sensing the voltage and transforming it into a glucose value.
The spike is coated in a thin layer of silver cloride which interacts with the glucose in the blood to make that voltage, pretty neat [1]
But hard to justify that $600/month price tag when you really bust out what these little plastic boxes are actually doing.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8764584/