There has been a growing popularity of test strips made from Indian silk in the blood glucose test strips market. Indian silk has wound healing properties and when combined with polypropylene, creates a product with strong antibacterial properties. Clinical trials have shown that silk strips are just as accurate as paper or plastic strips. Silk strips are cost-effective and are easier to manufacture. They cost about one-quarter or one-third of the price of paper or plastic strips. Paper or plastic strips require high-priced machinery to embed electrodes, whereas silk strips cut out the mechanical needs by way of weaving electrodes with silk yarn. For instance, in 2015, Achira Labs, a Bangalore-based company, came up with a way to weave diabetic strips from silk. Technological advances in blood glucose monitoring devices are expected to boost the demand for test strips made from Indian silk.

The global blood glucose test strips market is expected to grow from more than $11.5 billion in 2019 to around $14 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.0%. The blood glucose test strips market is expected to be positively impacted by technological advances in the market, which are mainly associated with accurate diagnosis and efficient monitoring at reasonable costs. With the rising global diabetic population, the diabetes care market is in need of innovative technologies to help people and physicians better prevent, diagnose, and treat diabetes.

Blood glucose test strips manufacturers are also increasingly investing in the production of continuous test tapes and compact blood glucose systems. Continuous test tapes allow the diabetic patients to test their blood sugar levels conveniently and discreetly without the hassle of carrying a separate meter, lancet and a test strip container. For instance, Sentec Scientific, offers an electrochemical biosensor with continuous test strips offering up to 100 tests on a continuous test tape, thus reducing cost incurred per test and increasing patient convenience. Companies in the market are also investing in the integration of blood glucose monitoring systems with the test strips, to offer a more compact system to the patient. In April 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Intuity Medical’s POGO automatic blood glucose monitoring system, which incorporates test strips, lancets and a lancing device into a compact meter and cartridge system. The system allows ten continuous tests through the use of continuous test strips which are contained in a cartridge. The patient can discard the self-contained cartridge after the tests, thus eliminating the need to handle used test strips or lancets, which reduces the biohazards of used strips in public places.