Dexcom exec highlights benefits of CGM for type 2 diabetes, continued innovation

At ATTD 2026, Dexcom (Nasdaq:DXCM) outlined a range of ways in which its continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) benefit people with diabetes.

Notably, new registry data demonstrated that long-term use of the Dexcom G7 CGM supports weight management and lowers A1C for people with type 2 diabetes who aren’t on insulin therapy.

Analysts recently said that this population could offer a growth catalyst for Dexcom in the coming years.

Data shared at the conference in Barcelona last week outlined how its CGMs can help improve long-term health and reduce hospitalizations across diabetes types. Findings include one-year real-world impact data on Dexcom CGM on HbA1C in non-insulin-treated type 2 diabetes from U.S. primary care evidence. This registry showed that, after one year of use, people in this population saw significant improvement in A1C and weight management.

Claims data also highlighted the association of CGM initiation with reductions in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)-related hospitalizations and emergency room visits in those with type 1 diabetes. Additionally, a feasibility study supported the use of Smart Basal, the company’s new basal insulin dosing optimizer. It demonstrated safety and efficacy of the optimizer for people with type 2 diabetes starting or optimizing basal insulin therapy.

The company says its presence at ATTD builds on the recent rollout of its G7 15 Day CGM, which is now fully available in the U.S.

Speaking to Drug Delivery Business News during the event, Dexcom VP of Medical Affairs, Dr. Jessica Castle, explained the importance of the company’s clinical findings at ATTD 2026 and what the future looks like at Dexcom.

The following has been lightly edited for space and clarity.

MassDevice: What features that you highlighted at ATTD are you most excited about?

Dr. Jessica Castle: “Smart Basal is our feature to help people with type 2 diabetes on basal insulin find the right insulin dose. … For healthcare providers, especially in primary care, they’re very busy, and it can be complicated to figure out what the right insulin dose is. Typically, what people have to do is get a scale from their doctor, do a fingerstick every morning, try to average their glucose values over three days, and then look at a scale that their doctor provided, and then try to figure out every three days how to adjust their insulin dose.

“I found that, when I was in clinical practice, oftentimes what would happen is that people wouldn’t adjust their dose because they were overwhelmed by the process or were worried about developing hypoglycemia. So Smart Basal, instead of what I described, takes the CGM data every day and provides a new recommendation on how much basal insulin to take, and it’s also informed by the healthcare provider.”

What were the takeaways for Smart Basal at ATTD?

JC: “People wore CGM at the beginning, before they used Smart Basal. They used it for about a month, and then we followed them afterwards, and we saw average glucose drop about 40 points with that, and then time and range increased by 20%. In a separate presentation, we talked about the patient-reported outcomes. People, for example, thought it was very convenient. They had more treatment satisfaction and less diabetes distress. The great benefit was that they saw improvement in their hyperglycemia, or high glucose. They actually had very little hypoglycemia. … We’re excited to share that and it’s something I think that’ll be good for healthcare providers. It makes it simpler for people with diabetes, because they can get better glucose control to help protect them from complications and be more satisfied when they start insulin, which can be otherwise a scary time for people.”

It seems like Dexcom is placing a significant emphasis on digital capabilities. Can you expand on that effort?

JC: “I think it’s all about personalized care — meeting different populations with what they need, and then also trying to really reduce burden, to make it easier for people to be healthier. That’s really the benefit of technology, the benefit of AI. I would struggle if I had to count my carbs for every meal. We even know that people, when they get an education to be able to do that, it’s very easy to make errors and really over- or under-estimate the carb amounts. Having something that really just makes it easy, one photograph, I think is a great advantage for our users.

“I’m really looking forward to, as AI is evolving so quickly, how we better support people in the broader populations. Stelo can serve a wide spectrum of people without diabetes. But, maybe we want to better understand how glucose is impacted by different food choices. … I think it can be a really powerful lifestyle tool for many different people, including people without diabetes.”

What about the significance of targeting type 2 diabetes?

JC: “There’s such a huge opportunity here to better support people with type 2 diabetes. It’s both the behavior change and the medications, not only helping the healthcare provider choose the right medicines and adjust the right medicines, but also helping people stay on those medicines that they need. Another part is to potentially minimize the number of medicines people need. When I practiced clinically, we would have patients who were on three or four medications. As you can imagine, you get side effects from that.

“The benefit of having CGM is that you can, in some cases, reduce the number of medicines that you need, so people aren’t exposed to those side effects, they have lower costs in terms of medications and they can use the CGM to help with behavior change in their lifestyle in terms of healthy eating patterns and increased activity. We actually saw, in the data that we’re presenting here at ATTD, that people chose sugary drinks less often, ate fast food less often and had more exercise. All these things really helped benefit them in terms of their diabetes management and overall health.”

Type 2 is also an area in which Dexcom is targeting further reimbursement, right?

JC: “Yes — in the U.S., hopefully we’ll have reimbursement in the future. Right now, there are a number of commercial plans that reimburse sensors for people with type 2 diabetes, not on insulin. Hopefully, we will have that for the Medicare population in the future. As we think about it globally, I think there’s huge potential for population health. That’s the importance of us being able to showcase these types of evidence here at conferences like ATTD, to really demonstrate the value for different populations.”

Another area Dexcom highlighted at ATTD was DKA — what’s the importance there?

JC: “It really highlights the importance of CGM. We know that it helps prevent severe hypoglycemia, but DKA is another piece of this. You’re able to see that glucose has been high for long periods of time, and then be able to see that, with an insulin pump, the infusion set where insulin goes into the skin looks like it’s come off, so you’re not getting the insulin you need. The CGM can alert people when they’ve had hyperglycemia and be able to help prevent DKA. [Data shared at ATTD] confirms what we’ve seen in other data sets, but I think it’s very compelling data. This is something that we’re continuing to think about. We know that Dexcom CGM already significantly reduces the risk of DKA. We’re looking for new, innovative features to help even better support people to reduce their DKA risk.”

With other CGM makers targeting multi-analyte sensors to help with DKA, what does Dexcom have in the works?

JC: “We’ve said publicly that we are also developing multi-analyte sensors. We have, in the shorter term, additional features that are specific to CGM or glucose only, and we’re looking at the ability to combine glucose and ketones. I think we know already that CGM really reduces the risk of DKA. That being said, there’s probably a role to play in terms of being able to identify when people have elevated ketone levels. It needs to be done very thoughtfully.

“Providing people with just raw ketone data without a lot of context may cause people to be more anxious. It may cause them to go into the emergency room when they don’t need to. I have seen some data presented at other conferences where, in most cases, people are asymptomatic. I think we need more evidence to better understand what the right role is for a ketone sensor to be able to really demonstrate that value back to people with diabetes, back to payers, etc. It just needs to be better understood. As a company, we are constantly learning about how we can best support people with diabetes.”

What are some things that excite you for the future at Dexcom?

JC: “We’re always looking to innovate, making devices smaller, easier to use and more accurate. There’s more to come on that. We also presented on using CGM with tirzepatide, the most potent, you know, GLP-1. We saw really nice A1c reductions in that population for people with type 2 diabetes, either on intensive insulin or basal insulin. As GLP-1s, or these similar medications, increase in terms of the number of people that are using them, it’s important for us to be a companion to those medications, and we’re already seeing really nice improvements with a combination of Dexcom CGM and these medications.”

What is the overarching road map ahead looking like for Dexcom?

JC: “We serve many populations — people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. We have Stelo over the counter. That expands our portfolio to people without diabetes and people with prediabetes. [Now], we’re launching a new feature on Stelo to be able to take photos of meals, and then the AI in the background is able to estimate calories, carbs, amount, protein and fat.

“As we think about the future, being able to support lifestyle change is really beneficial to all people, both with diabetes and without diabetes, or people who are at risk of developing diabetes. That’s really where I see our future headed, to continue to be able to better support people in that behavior change. It’s such a great opportunity to prevent these conditions. About 100 million people in the U.S. are impacted by prediabetes, and I think we have a really important opportunity to help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in that population.”