Omnipod 5 first received FDA clearance for individuals aged 6 years old and up with type 1 diabetes in January 2022. At that point, it became the world’s first available tubeless, wearable, automated insulin delivery system.
In the more than three years since, the company has continued to expand the technology in a multitude of ways. More people around the world can use it, as can more children and more people with diabetes who couldn’t use automated insulin delivery before. Last year’s American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions was the launchpad for the company’s bid to bring automated insulin delivery to the type 2 diabetes population, with the publication of SECURE-T2D data highlighting the system’s capabilities.
Omnipod 5 became the first and only such system cleared for type 1 and type 2 diabetes last August. The company has only continued to build from there. That includes a new partnership with none other than Marvel, creating a comic book hero with diabetes.
At this year’s ADA Scientific Sessions in Chicago, Insulet SVP and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Trang Ly, spoke to Drug Delivery Business News about the latest developments at Insulet as it looks to bring the insulin patch pump to even more users.
“We’re really happy with our product adoption,” Ly said. “You can see by our growth. It’s a very simple and easy-to-use product, and it reaches a lot more patients than other products on the market.”
Insulet continues to expand Omnipod 5
This integration combines the benefits of the companies’ latest technologies, all conveniently controlled from an iPhone. Communicating with the CGM, Omnipod 5 proactively corrects for glucose highs every five minutes and protects against lows with insulin dosing.
Insulet’s Omnipod 5 App for iPhone offers full control of Omnipod 5, including the ability to bolus, change a pod, adjust settings, access insights and more. Users can now download the new app with Dexcom G7 and G6 compatibility from the Apple App Store.
“People have been asking for iPhone integration for as long as I’ve been at the company, which is, like, nine years ago,” Ly said. “It’s a huge investment to make sure that it works well. … It’s hard work to design that. We initially designed it on the Android platform, and we really had to create this as new. But, we know that it’s a huge market satisfier.”
And, at ADA, Ly said Insulet demonstrated improved clinical outcomes with the new iPhone app — not just improved engagement.
On the type 2 front, Ly said the U.S. launch continues to roll on as clinical outcomes remain strong there.
“Today, greater than 30% of our new patient starts in the U.S. are type 2,” Ly said. “That’s the market that we’re well-suited to go get.”
Insulet also recently began a widespread Omnipod 5 rollout in several different geographies. The company made Omnipod 5 available in Australia, then later Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. This followed the launch of Omnipod 5 in five new European countries at the start of this year. Ly noted that more geographies are on the way, including launches in Israel and the Middle East.
New enhancements on the way?
In a Product Theater session at ADA, Ly noted a few potential updates to Insulet technology that are either already here or on the way. She explained those when speaking with DDBN.
First, the company unveiled its Omnipod Discover at ATTD earlier this year, and shared it for the first time in the U.S. at ADA. The platform — Insulet’s own data management platform — is currently available in select clinics in the U.S.
“It’s something we’ve developed very closely with [healthcare provider] feedback in mind,” Ly said. “It provides lots of information.”
Insulet surveyed doctors, Ly said, finding out what they like and don’t like about existing data systems. She said the company wanted to deliver an Omnipod experience that integrates with its own products, delivering a more streamlined healthcare provider (HCP) experience.
The platform also caters to patients, Ly said. It can send patients a text, enabling them to see not only their results for the last week, but insights, too.
“It’s really all about the HCP journey,” Ly said. “We’re really giving some clear insights to both doctors and patients.”
Additionally, Insulet shared that it has two planned clinical trials for new algorithms for its platforms. One involves SmartAdjust 2.0, the next algorithm update for the Omnipod 5. The other evaluates a fully closed-loop algorithm for the type 2 population.
“People don’t want more knobs to turn,” Ly said. “They want more automation. They want to forget about their diabetes. So, we’re delivering that through more automation. … But, we haven’t announced any timing for that. We’re going to get into clinical, and we’ve got to see whether it works or not.”
Business as usual under new leadership
From 1996 to 2023, McEvoy served in leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, she held the post of EVP and worldwide chair of Johnson & Johnson MedTech.
Despite the change in the corner office, “it’s business as usual,” Ly said. “The strategy remains intact, and we’re continuing to see growth. The business is performing really well, and we’ve seen incredible growth in our U.S. market.”
When McEvoy was appointed, Timothy Scannell, chair of Insulet’s board, said in a news release that the company “found not only a world-class leader with nearly three decades of healthcare leadership experience, but a visionary with unique insight into operating at the intersection of medtech and consumer health.”
That echoed the sentiment of Eric Benjamin, chief product & consumer experience officer (CPXO), who in 2022 said of Omnipod at DeviceTalks Boston: “They are medical devices. They are also consumer devices. We live at the intersection of those two things.”
McEvoy brings that consumer experience to the company, while Ly said Insulet remains moving toward the consumer/medtech intersection. She noted the Marvel collaboration as a prime example of that.
“When patients come in to request Omnipod, that conversation just goes much better,” Ly said. “The consumer marketing is a way for us to get increased brand awareness and increase the demand.”
