Get ready for some serious hype
Finally at long last the S-1 for Livongo has arrived and judging by the press coverage the company is receiving one just might think this is somehow a watershed event. Listen digital health as we’ve been saying is hotter than Georgia asphalt, so we aren’t surprised. Nor does it hurt any that Livongo’s primary target are patients with diabetes a chronic disease state that is growing at epidemic rates. Not...
The Empire Strikes Back
Frankly it took us some time to compose our self after reading that Medtronic was issuing a recall for their older pumps. The evil empire is not known for doing anything in the best interest of the patient and this recall is no different. This so-called recall is just another way for the empire to do two things it has always wanted to do anyway- force patients using these older...
Making sense of it all
It’s been almost two full weeks since the ADA conference ended and we’re still trying to make sense of it all. What’s pretty obvious is that Dexcom up 10.6% and Insulet up 5.3% were the big winners in terms of stock price appreciation. Everyone else has basically tread water. Everyone seems to think its big news that Dexcom intimated but did not come right out and state that their sensor will...
The Wrong Debate
The other day we came across a post on the Medscape entitled “Is 'Diabetic' a Dirty Word? A Doctor and Patient Debate” and all we could think of is here comes the diabetes language police. That the West Coast Mafia fresh off the ADA conference were once again more concerned with how something was being said over the substance of what was said. The post states the following; “Is "diabetic" a...
Just do it already
This morning we learned that Google and our chardonnay guzzling friends have hooked up on another project. This time it’s on the drug side. According to a Sanofi statement; “Google will apply technology and analytics on Sanofi's large real world database to better understand what treatments work for patients” Now this is not the first time these two have hooked up as Verily, Google’s Life Sciences unit is also partnered with Sanofi...
Byetta 2.0
Traditionally in the drug business there is a huge advantage to being first to market with an innovative new therapy. However this is not always the case. A fact which should not go unnoticed by the folks at Novo Nordisk. Novo has bet the farm on their recently submitted oral version of semaglutide, which when approved will be the first orally delivered GLP-1. We have little doubt the FDA will...
Second Drop
There is nothing quite like a hot sector, an upcoming IPO and lots of hype to boost investor interest. This is exactly what’s happening with digital health a sector that’s hotter than Georgia asphalt. And nowhere is digital health hotter than in our wacky world a world where the investors just love the toys in the toy chest. As we noted during the ADA conference one question, we kept getting...
The Road Less Traveled
For years we along with many others have been clamoring for outcomes to truly matter. That how wonderful and impactful it would be if better outcomes actually mattered not just to patients and their physicians but to payors. Keep in mind when it comes to any piece of diabetes technology or any drug not much is going to happen unless it gets into the hands of patients and payors control...
And the winner is ……
As we turn our attention from what happened at the conference to who can actually execute on what they said. The capital markets are speaking loud and clear that Dexcom was the big winner coming out of the show. Not really a surprise to us as we have said consistently that Dexcom besides having the best product on the market also has the best management team. Yet this talented team...
Finally the patient is winning
Just to prove to everyone that we are not constantly cynical nor a cold hearted unfeeling bastard who has nothing better to do than wax poetic about the exploits of broom Hilda, we did find several positives coming out of this years conference so let’s get right to it; 1. The patient at long last is the biggest winner of all, insulin using patients the biggest winner as the day is...