Why Medtronic and Abbott are teaming up - and what it means for you

Medtronic and Abbott are joining forces - and we have questions. The announcement that Abbott will create a new CGM, based on the Freestyle Libre, exclusively for Medtronic comes just as Medtronic gets FDA approval for it’s newest sensor. So why the team up? Why now? And what will all this look like for the person using these systems? We’re talking to both companies.
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[@robbos2432]

Translation ... Medtronic is so far behind in their CGM technology they have finally realized in order to sell more pumps they need a better CGM to go along with it. I bought my first Medtronic pump in 2009 (remember, they were the primary pump choice back then) and I bought it because of the "new" CGM technology at the time - a sensor that would send readings automatically to the pump, plot them on a chart and you could download for further tracking and analyzing - pretty cool! I LOVED the Medtronic pump but hated the sensors which were inaccurate, bulky, needed charging, only lasted 3 days, required constant calibration and were so expensive! So I used the pump but not their CGM and entered finger stick reading manually.
Fast-forward 15 years Medtronic sensors are still the same profile shape/size,, still need charging, very awkward to insert, now last 7 days with better accuracy but not the best out there, AND are still expensive! Meanwhile, Abbott Libre sensors came along (among others which are good but I have only personally used Libre sensors). Libre's are small, easy to insert, accurate, don't require charging, last 14 days are are less expensive - everything Medtronic's weren't! To be fair, Medtronic is not only a diabetes company, they manufacture other medical devices but as such I believe they lost their focus on CGM's over the last decade. With the great strides in CGM technology over the last few years they can't catch up so good on them for finally realizing they should partner with a company that actually makes fantastic CGM's. I'm very much looking forward to using a Libre sensor with my Medtronic 780G. BTW, the 780G is a fantastic pump but the whole experience will be so much better with a fantastic CGM to match!