McEvoy, who assumed the corner office six months ago, has recently spoken about the company’s use of artificial intelligence to advance its automated insulin delivery (AID) offerings, while competition continues to heat up in the space for the leading tubeless patch pump developer.
Ahead of the investor day event, McEvoy spoke to Drug Delivery Business News to share updates on next-generation products, her initial experiences as the Acton, Massachusetts-based company’s CEO, and what the future looks like.
With the company establishing market leadership through its Omnipod 5 platform for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, it plans to enhance that offering and roll out new ones, too, while reaching wider populations of people with diabetes.
Here’s what McEvoy had to say in the exclusive interview. (Read more about the updates from the Investor Day event here.)
“This remarkable team that we have reflects the best of medtech, reflects the best of healthcare and reflects the best of this consumer industry because of brands,” McEvoy told Drug Delivery Business News. “That’s what’s going to give us confidence to continue to deliver top-tier growth.”
The following has been lightly edited for space and clarity. Learn more about Insulet and the rest of the diabetes tech industry in our free Diabetes Technology Special Report.
The big news: Omnipod 6 is coming, along with other product updates
Ashley McEvoy: “I’m very pleased to share that we’ll have innovation each of the next three years. It will start next year, where we’re going to add enhancements to our Omnipod 5 ecosystem. This will include smarter automation, expanded CGM connectivity, and a new rollout of our new data platform called Discover, which will provide some really robust insights to both the Podders (Omnipod users) as well as healthcare professionals. In 2027, we will be launching Omnipod 6 with an adaptive learning algorithm, broader CGM compatibility and an enhanced app and controller experience. Then in 2028, we will be introducing our first fully closed-loop system for type 2 [diabetes] that eliminates the setup and meal entry and expands AID to millions more people.”
A look at the next chapter of growth at Insulet
AM: “Our plan is to deliver approximately 20% annual revenue growth while keeping true to our mission, which is to transform life for people with diabetes. … We now are the market leader. For the past five years, we’ve driven 66% of the market growth. We enjoy the position Omnipod has as the No. 1 most-requested and most-prescribed AID therapy in the U.S.”
“What’s enabled that has been over 25 years building what I call a competitive moat that we’re going to build on into the future. That includes a revolutionary form factor. It includes science and real-world evidence that have established clinical guidelines, like the ADA putting AID therapy as the first-line standard of care at the point of diagnosis for type 1. We want to get those kinds of guidelines into type 2.”
How Insulet established itself within the market and where it intends to go
“We’re going to keep the strategic focus in the U.S., going deeper in type 1. We only have 40% penetration there. If you look at where the CGMs are, they’re much higher than that, so there’s a lot of headroom. We’re in the early innings in type 2 in the U.S. with less than 5% penetration. We have plans to take that from 5% to 10% to 15%. Then, OUS, managing patients with type 1, we’re around a 25% penetration, and have a clear line of sight to take that to 30% to 35%.”
“This is about a $30 billion total addressable market with very little penetration and a lot of opportunity to drive adoption, predominantly from people relying on multiple daily injections (MDI).”
McEvoy’s impressions from her first six months in the corner office
AM: “I couldn’t be more proud of this team. I’ve worked in very purpose-driven, value-serving organizations. But the passion and the empathy that each Insulet employee exudes on this mission to transform lives for people with diabetes are ever-present. We’re going to bottle up all of that passion and act like the leader. Now we are the market leader, and now we have to go lead the market with market development to try to get adoption of the category from MDI to the most modern technology available with patients, and also to ignite brand love.
“I couldn’t be more impressed. We’ve built a world-class supply chain from the bottom up and we’re going to continue to invest in that. We have a very progressive, competitive innovation pipeline. We’re early on our globalization efforts. You’re going to hear us go strong in the EU, we’re going to go into the Middle East. Places like Saudi Arabia, we have line of sight for those in our longer-term plan, not in the next three years, but there are millions of people with diabetes in Asia, so we’re assessing that marketplace. I just think that there’s a beautiful honor that everyone is very Podder- and patient-centered here.”
How do you lead from a position of strength, especially when expanding to type 2?
AM: “With type 2, we’ve been at this, I would say, for a year. It’s around a $12 billion market in the U.S. and we have less than 5% penetration. Over a three-year period, we see ourselves doubling or tripling that penetration. That’s really around making sure that we get after the clinical inertia in treating type 2. … Our SECURE-T2D clinical trial showed great outcomes on A1C reduction, improved time in range, prevents hypoglycemia, and doesn’t promote weight gain. It’s very complementary with GLP-1s, not competitive.
“[We need to get] that science to translate into clinical practice, then activate a category through direct-to-consumer engagement. Get consumers to go ask their clinicians about Omnipod. We had about 25% of our new customer starts come from consumers who heard about us through direct-to-consumer activation. We’ll be very hyper-efficient in how we do that, but that’ll be really good to ignite the category.
“Then, we’re going to come into 2028 with our own fully closed-loop system. … We have a multi-generational pipeline for type 2. This is just the U.S. We’ve got line of sight outside the three-year plan to take type 2 OUS and that enables us to serve even more millions of patients.”
Where does Insulet lie between the consumer and medtech markets?
“Most people are familiar with us in medtech and medtech is where engineering marvel meets technology. It’s all about ingenuity. If you look at the future trends in medtech, it’s about smarter, less invasive, more hyper-personalized solutions. We’re also at the intersection of healthcare, which is about impact and getting after the biggest areas of unmet clinical needs, like diabetes and metabolic disorders. It’s about being science-backed and evidence-driven, partnering with clinicians to advance the standard of care.
“Lastly, it’s about the consumer. Sometimes they call it consumer health, but this is about intimacy. It’s about the power of brand and a lifetime partnership. Powerful brands in the space understand the daily habits and practices that consumers rely on every day and they look to deliver superior performance that you can count on. When you do this, you get enduring value. When you keep on doing that, you build enduring trust, and it becomes this beautiful flywheel that will enable us to have continued market-leading performance, consistently.”
