Like a hole in the head
Not like things aren’t bad enough for Medtronic and their struggling insulin pump franchise but the hits just keep on coming. We have long maintained that once the company loses their formulary advantage it’s not game over but pretty damn close. The fat lady isn’t singing but she’s warming up and getting ready to sing now that UnitedHealthcare has agreed to cover Tandem pumps. Per an 8-K issued by Tandem- “The...
Ignorance is bliss
Momma Kliff used to tell us all the time don’t fight ignorance it’s a losing battle that you cannot win. We thought about Mom a lot yesterday while watching shares of Tandem tack on 12%+ closing at almost $99. All this from their announcement that they have finalized their deal with Abbott to eventually integrate Abbott’s Libre platform into Tandem’s insulin pump platform. Which will be a neat trick since...
So much for a slow week
Yes we know it’s Taco Tuesday and we had anticipated a slow news week but so far anyway the wacky world has yet to leave for its annual summer vacation. So let’s have it and hope that with the 4th on Saturday things begin to slow down so we can get in some serious fun in the sun. 1. Another Tyler Now that CGM is becoming the standard for glucose measurement all...
Does this make any sense?
Yesterday Tandem stated they have finalized their agreement with Abbott. Per a press release; “Abbott (NYSE: ABT) and Tandem Diabetes Care (NASDAQ: TNDM) announced today that they have finalized an agreement to develop and commercialize integrated diabetes solutions that combine Abbott's world-leading continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology with Tandem's innovative insulin delivery systems to provide more options for people to manage their diabetes. The companies first announced their intention to work...
The walk of shame
As summer sets in and we get ready to wish America Happy Birthday this Saturday this promises to be a slow news week in our wacky world. Yet in our never-ending quest to find good copy and keep everyone amused we came across what we thought for sure would be great copy when the Medical Design & Outsourcing web site published their list of 20 medical device start ups you...
Our fascination continues
As most of you have probably guessed given all our references to Star Wars we are big science fiction fans. Prior to Star Wars Star Trek was and continues to be a favorite of ours. As any Trekkie knows one of Spock’s favorite words was fascinating, although Dr. McCoy has some truly classic lines – Damn it Jim I’m a doctor not a magician – is one that we particularly...
Is Tandem going to add Tyler?
Yesterday Tandem announced they had acquired the Sugarmate app which according to their press release; "Our acquisition of Sugarmate represents an exciting addition to our digital offerings and supports Tandem’s strategic vision to expand our ecosystem of diabetes-related products and services," said John Sheridan, Tandem Diabetes Care president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to further advancing our mobile health offerings and continuing to develop and introduce new app features...
Time to play ball!
Ok this is not diabetes related but we did a little happy dance yesterday when the MLB announced there will be baseball this year. This is particularly good news for our beloved Chicago White Sox, sorry Cub fans but we’re the better team this year, who have a nice collection of young talent and should be very fun to watch. With a shortened season you never know what will happen...
Taking a bite out of the Apple
Once again Apple is holding their developers conference and once again everyone is speculating what they will do when it comes to digital health. This leader of way cool whiz bang has only dipped their toes into the water and so far has yet to make the deep dive into the digital health pool. This reminds us of their strategy in diabetes an area they have sniffed around but never...
No Need For This
Now that we have had some time to review the FDA’s recent decision to approve the Libre2 we still have more questions than we do have answers. Such as why did it earn an iCGM designation when it cannot be used with an automated insulin delivery system? Why is Abbott who should be happy to have this approval igoing around trying to discredit Dexcom falsely claiming Libre2 is somehow better...