Tech companies accelerate pursuit of healthcare market
By Zion Rufus
As big tech companies continue to accelerate their pursuit of the healthcare market, Apple is set to revolutionize the global diabetes devices market with E5, its non-invasive glucose monitoring on Apple Watch.
The device will be armed with the potential to measure how much glucose is in the user’s body without needing to prick the skin for blood.
Giacomo Lotti, senior performance marketing manager at SMG Swiss Marketplace Group noted that indeed, healthcare is the next gold rush for tech companies.
“Amazon made several acquisitions lately, as well as launched a $5 online pharmacy subscription, ByteDance also made some acquisitions in the space and obviously Apple has focused on health features for its Apple Watch for a while now. But it is Alphabet Inc. that’s actually leading the run,” Lotti said in a LinkedIn comment.
He continued: “They are heavily investing in four broad health categories: wearables, health records, health-related artificial intelligence, and extending human longevity. We have interesting times ahead, driven by the tradeoff of personal privacy vs personal health.”
In a LinkedIn comment on how Apple’s E5 could disrupt the diabetes industry, Linas Beliūnas, country manager of Flutterwave said: “The technology is still years away but this could literally change lives for over 500 million diabetics globally, and every person in the world with diabetes will desire to own an Apple Watch.”
He continued: “Already having disrupted smartphone, personal computer, music, and payments industries, with this technology alone Apple can soon cement itself as a powerhouse in health care too. Monitoring blood sugar is not just for diabetics. Minimizing blood sugar spikes and troughs is in everybody’s interest. Thus, an Apple Watch with a glucose monitor could become the first smartwatch for every health-cautious person on the planet. This is much bigger than AI and Metaverse combined.”
Emmanuel Adeboye, a business sales and marketing consultant explained that the apple watch uses optical absorption spectroscopy to shine light from a laser under the skin to measure the concentration of glucose in the body.
He noted: “The current prototype is the size of an iPhone, smaller than the prior version, which was big enough to require a tabletop.”
Currently valued at USD 28.84 billion according to Grandview Research, the global diabetes devices market is segmented into product type (blood glucose monitoring devices, insulin delivery devices), device type (self-monitoring and diagnostic), delivery type (pumps, pen, syringes, injectors, cartridges in reusable pens, disposable pens, and jet injectors), and distribution channels (institutional sales, retail sales).
In 2021, the big techs collectively spent over $3 billion on healthcare-related ventures and research, according to The Economist. In 2022, data provider CB Insights reported that Alphabet spent $1.7 billion on ‘futuristic health ideas’ in 2022.
GV, the venture capital arm of Google parent company Alphabet, moved into healthcare by investing in dozens of startups, from those specializing in diagnostics to medical devices to health tech. Some healthcare solutions and platforms by Google include Google Fit, DeepMind, Verily, Calico, and FitBit.
Amazon entered into the health sector after it acquired PillPack, an online pharmacy, in 2018 and later rebranded it as Amazon Pharmacy. In 2022, the e-commerce giant acquired One Medical, a human-centered, technology-powered national primary care organization. Following the acquisition, the company also revealed plans to expand into mental health services with on-demand therapists. Amazon’s top healthcare solutions and platforms include: Amazon Web Services (AWS), PillPack, Amazon Care, Alexa, Medical Supply Chain, and Haven.
Healthcare solutions and platforms by Microsoft include Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, Healthcare NExT, Microsoft Genomics, Medical Scribe, and Microsoft Health Bot.
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