January 7, 2008

It’s (almost) a Free Market – So Step Up

Omni Pod’s announcement today with DexCom put some of the bigger players in the looking like slugs category.

Fist Abbott who bought out the Navigator seems stuck in the FDA mud. There has been all kinds of buzz about the Navigator and it being the inevitable winner in the CGM market place. Tomorrow is the New Hampshire primary and I have to think Abbott is looking a lot like Hillary. Crowned the winner by the pundits but not showing up in the polls. I don’t know what the deal with Abbott is but Omni Pod is looking real smart hedging their bets.

“The agreement is non-exclusive and does not impact any of Insulet's existing third party development agreements.” In other words Omni Pod is still going to keep the door open if Abbott ever get off their butts. In the mean time they are working with Dex.

In a free market those of us shopping for a pump would be able to match it with the CGM that suits our needs and visa versa. - not having the choice dictated by big medical companies keeping things in their house (MiniMed.) Kudos to Omni Pod for getting that.

This leaves Animas the wall flower in the pump CGM dance. Hey Animas, I love you guys. Your service is great. Your support a holistic approach to type 1 wins you some additional loyalty.

But the CGM/Pump combination is a ship that is leaving port. A lot of us were hoping that J&J would bring some capital to help promote innovation. It doesn’t seem to be the case. Best thing to come from the J&J take over was a bounce in the share price.

The 2020 is incrementally an improvement. Pink is a winner with my 10 year old. I think more in the features department would be better. The new software is not winning any rave reviews on line. It isn’t web enabled. It isn’t up to a CGM. Diabetes has more statistics than Major League Baseball. J&J seems to have left Animas in the farm team. Color is good, features are better.

So here we have two big company heavy hitters, Abbott and J&J, folks with Yankee resources who seem to be all about their AA team in Toledo. Dudes act like Big Leaguers - step up. You need to be on the field to win.


(Full Financial Disclosure: I have a few shares of DexCom – it was the only pure CGM play I could find. I had shares of Animas before J&J bought them out. I thought I had some Abbott too but I looked at my IRA statement and I don’t have any of them or J&J. I would be real psyched if I could move the market but let’s get real - I’m no Oracle of Omaha)

No comments :

Post a Comment