Another setback for Roche
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the folks at Roche, it did. According to well-placed sources the FDA has decided not to approve Roche’s new hospital based glucose monitoring system. Diabetic Investor has not yet been able to find out the reason for the FDA’s action or whether this just a temporary setback. Whatever the case may be this news could not have come at a worse time for Roche, who continues to see their share of the conventional glucose monitoring market drop like a stone.
As we noted earlier in the week when reporting from JPM, the company finally has woken up to the fact they need to make some changes to their line of glucose monitors which use the GPH-PQQ enzyme. Never mind that it took them over 4 years and more share erosion to acknowledge that something needed to be done, as they old saying goes better late than never.
The simple fact is Roche remains completely clueless when it comes to their diabetes unit, both glucose monitors and insulin pumps. To Diabetic Investor it’s just a matter of time before they become an afterthought here in US and ultimately begin to lose share overseas. For reasons no one but Roche seems to understand they are incapable of taking drastic action and revamping the unit from top to bottom.
Frankly the company for all their talk about making changes continues to live the past, hoping by some miracle things will change. They seem oblivious to what is going on around them. Perhaps the company is content to watch their share and once solid reputation erode. Whatever the case, this once solid diabetes franchise continues to head in the wrong direction.
