Real-time readings help patients and doctors make immediate decisions about insulin doses or medication changes.

Some patients must test their blood as often as 10 times a day to manage insulin-dependent diabetes.

For the millions of people living with diabetes, test strips are a daily necessity used with a glucose meter to get real-time data on how food, medication, and exercise affect their blood sugar.

Retail prices for brand-name strips can exceed $100 for a box of 100 , whereas secondary market sellers may offer them for a fraction of that cost—sometimes as low as $36.

Beyond standard pharmacy purchases, a large "underground economy" exists for these strips. People buy them through online vendors, street advertisements, or peer-to-peer marketplaces for several specific reasons: