The company’s Medical Device business saw 13.4% growth in reported sales for the quarter. (Read all about the quarterly performance at MassDevice.)
Diabetes Care, Heart Failure, Structural Heart and Electrophysiology drove that growth, Abbott said. That included contributions from products like FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), Navitor, TriClip and Aveir.
Abbott noted that CGM sales totaled $1.9 billion for the quarter, growing 21.4% year-over-year.
On the company’s earnings call, Robert B. Ford, chair and CEO, pointed to continued growth in that business. Ford pointed to more reimbursement for CGMs in the basal insulin-using population, adding sustainability to growth rates. And, more improvements could be on the horizon with a new sensor under development.
(Abbott EVP of Diabetes Care Chris Scoggins outlined the company’s excitement for the latest addition to its portfolio of CGMs and biowearable sensors last month. READ HERE.)
“We’re seeing great momentum,” Ford said. “The intensive insulin user segment has been a key growth driver for the market. But, there are still segments that we’re seeing nice growth in. And the new sensor is definitely going to accelerate that.”
The technology — a dual sensor that continuously monitors glucose and ketone levels — already had FDA breakthrough device designation. Abbott said at the time that it was set for pivotal trial use in 2023, with regulatory submissions to follow.
While the sensor has yet to hit the market, it began to make waves again three years on from that initial announcement. Abbott recently agreed to implement integrations with automated insulin delivery systems offered by Sequel Med Tech, Tandem Diabetes Care, Beta Bionics, then Ypsomed and CamDiab, highlighting the interest in the sensor within the diabetes technology world even ahead of commercialization.
“I think this is going to be a real next-level, significant change in the CGM market, specifically for the intensive [insulin] users,” Ford said. “Ketone monitoring helps prevent diabetic ketoacidosis. We have a legacy of being in that. We were the first company to develop a rapid blood test for that many decades ago. So, we know how important it is.
“There’s clearly a need for this patient segment.”
Asked if he thinks the dual sensor accelerates share gain for Abbott, Ford simply replied: “100%. Yes.”
Abbott could benefit from heightened government interest in wearables
Earlier this month, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced an effort to encourage all Americans to use wearables to track health. That had stock prices for companies like Abbott and Dexcom, two of the leading CGM makers, on the rise.
“Wearables are powerful,” Ford said. “We’ve known this since we’ve launched. They’re very powerful behavior modification tools. And behavior modification has really proven to drive significant impact on one’s health. And so I think if you can keep your glucose levels in a healthy range, it offers a lot of benefits. There’s a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease. It helps with weight loss. We’ve seen that.”
Ford said Abbott appreciates the government’s efforts “to promote improving health and wellness” through the campaign.
“I think that’s in line with our company’s mission and certainly supportive of this initiative,” he said. “We would hope that it would be Americans wearing CGMs that were made in the United States. We have two manufacturing sites [here]. But, anyways, we support that initiative.”
