The diabetic test strip market has shifted from a high-margin monopoly to a price-competitive landscape driven by the Medicare Competitive Bidding Program, which slashed reimbursement rates by over 70% in 2013. This economic pressure fueled the rise of two distinct non-branded categories:

1. White-Label (Store Brands): Authorized products manufactured by companies like Trividia Health and AgaMatrix for retailers (CVS, Walgreens), offering FDA-cleared reliability at lower costs.

2. Third-Party Compatibles: Generic strips (e.g., GenUltimate, UniStrip) reverse-engineered to function in popular branded meters (like OneTouch), bypassing the "razor-and-blades" lock-in.

While ISO 15197:2013 standards eliminated low-quality generics by enforcing stricter accuracy, major OEMs continue to combat this trend through patent litigation and technological lock-outs (proprietary coding and impedance checks) to prevent third-party strips from functioning in newer meter generations.