A Non-Event
This morning Senseonics announced that UnitedHealthCare will begin covering the Eversense system. Shares of Senseonics which have been languishing are up almost 10% as investors foolishly believe this is going to make a difference. Here’s why it won’t. 1. The market has spoken, and patients prefer wearable not implantable systems. 2. Coverage has never been the problem as the company has been pretty good at getting the system covered. 3. Although we don’t...
A Non-Event
This morning Senseonics announced that UnitedHealthCare will begin covering the Eversense system. Shares of Senseonics which have been languishing are up almost 10% as investors foolishly believe this is going to make a difference. Here’s why it won’t. 1. The market has spoken, and patients prefer wearable not implantable systems. 2. Coverage has never been the problem as the company has been pretty good at getting the system covered. 3. Although we don’t...
Struggling to remain relevant.
One of the largest blunders in diabetes history was Teladoc buying Livongo for $19 Billion. This transaction occurred when digital health was hotter than Georgia asphalt. Thanks to COVID nearly every digital/virtual player was obtaining obscene valuations. Back then patients embraced digital/virtual options as they had no other choice. Back then we reminded everyone that if these companies were to survive over the long haul, they would need to prove...
Let’s pump it up.
Just when you think it’s safe to enter the water the music begins to play and the next thing you know that pesky shark shows ready for his afternoon meal. This is how the folks at Medtronic must feel. It seems they have already discovered a software issue with the brand-new way cool whiz bang 780G a system which is supposed to save the day. Sent to 780 patients last month...
The next Viagra?
Noom which initially promoted weight loss through behavior change has become the latest to throw in the towel and will now prescribe Wegovy. Noom joins a host of companies including Weight Watchers to acknowledge the obvious – behavior change is too much heavy lifting and drugs like Wegovy don’t require any heavy lifting. The GLP-1 weight loss craze is now in full swing and likely will be about the only...
Reality or Fantasy?
Take a close look at these words spoken by Medtronic CEO Geoffrey Martha yesterday during the company’s earnings call- “Look, we have not blinked when it comes to diabetes, and we're shifting to offense as we continue to invest heavily in assembling our ecosystem of durable pumps, smart pens, patch pumps, sensors, algorithms and customer service with multiple programs under development. Having this ecosystem is really important because we believe the...
Why not Tandem?
Yesterday I made it pretty clear that now was a great time to buy Insulet. The news that Medtronic was buying EOFlow hit shares of Insulet hard. We weren’t shocked by the move as the conventional belief is that now that Medtronic is in the patch pump market it will hurt Insulet. Well once again the conventional belief is dead wrong. This reminds us of the CGM market when every time...
Just when you thought it might be over.
Well just when you think one thing another happens. Medtronic made it official acquiring patch pump maker EOFlow for a whopping $738 million. Keep in mind while approved overseas the system while submitted to the FDA is not yet approved. This move has huge ramifications and not just for Medtronic so let’s have at it. 1. Shares of Insulet are down on the news – BUY now. There is no way...
No cure for …..
One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from that famous English statesmen Sir Winston Churchill who was told he was overserved to which he responded – “I shall be sober in the morning, and you will still be disgustingly ugly.” I thought about this quote because Momma Kliff who also gets quoted quite frequently always said there is no cure for stupid. Even worse stupid has no capacity to learn. Reports...
Who will it be?
It seems like a matter of time before Tandem is acquired. The stock is sinking into the abyss, the Board seems content to do nothing and they are sitting on a boatload of cash. As we have noted before this is not like the last time the company was on the verge of collapse. Thankfully today besides sitting on over $500 million in cash they have an installed base of...