The company’s first-quarter (fiscal 2025) results included $647 million in revenue from the Diabetes unit. That marked 11% year-over-year growth from the same three-month period a year ago.
U.S. revenues grew in the mid-teens as the company reported continued adoption for its MiniMed 780G automated insulin delivery (AID) system. The medtech giant also reported low-thirties CGM growth, driven by high CGM attachment and high single-digit pump growth.
Medtronic also saw international growth in the low double-digits with increasing CGM attachment rates and its Simplera rollout. Simplera, the company’s next-generation CGM, also received FDA approval earlier this month.
A major development for the company’s diabetes business, came this month when it announced a collaboration with Abbott. The partnership aims to collaborate on a system based on Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre CGMs with Medtronic’s automated insulin delivery technology (the latest generation being the MiniMed 780G) and smart insulin pen systems, such as the InPen system.
“We are just getting great feedback on the ease of insertion and [Simplera Sync’s] usage,” CEO Geoff Martha said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “This adds to the already high satisfaction of our 780G system, where we’ve been the No. 1-rated AID system by DQ&A for the past two quarters. So we are confident in Simplera and our CGM pipeline.
“And to add to this, two weeks ago, we announced our global partnership with Abbott, where we’ll bring to market an integrated CGM based on Abbott’s most advanced CGM platform.”
More on the Medtronic-Abbott partnership
Integrating Abbott’s CGM with Medtronic’s automated insulin delivery algorithms enables automatic insulin adjustments, keeping glucose in range. The partnership arranged for Abbott to develop the sensor and Medtronic to sell it. The new CGM will work exclusively with Medtronic devices.
The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the partnership, as well as the timeline for commercial availability.
“It will allow us to offer more choice to patients, increase our installed base and grow our diabetes revenue,” Martha said on the earnings call. “And we expect to do this while maintaining the same revenue per patient and being neutral to diabetes gross margin. We are committed to being No. 1 in the fast-growing AID and smart MDI space, and this partnership will help ensure just that.”
Analysts see the collaboration as a way for Medtronic to retain existing pump users (they estimate around 700,000 worldwide) and attract new users that may have previously expressed dissatisfaction or wariness with Medtronic’s in-house CGMs.
Que Dallara, EVP and president, Medtronic Diabetes, highlighted the opportunity for “a very large installed base of users that prefer the Abbott sensor” who now have access to Medtornic technology.
Dallara declined to provide timelines, but said the companies intend to work as fast as they can to incorporate the new sensor. They hope to give users an experience where they can choose between two sensor options, but still experience the Medtronic automation.
“That’s the user experience we want to bring to the market,” Dallara said on the earnings call. “We think that’s pretty differentiated, and it allows us to tap into the largest CGM installed base in the world in addition to growing our own installed base.”
What about the company’s Diabetes strategy moving forward?
Dallara said the company’s Diabetes strategy remains unchanged despite all the major developments within the business. In Medtronic’s view, the change came in the market.
According to Dallara, the company saw a widespread recognition that AID provides better outcomes than CGM or MDI alone.
“We always knew that there was a large installed base of users that wanted access to our technology, our AID system,” she said. “We still believe the system’s benefits exceed the sum of the parts, wrapping it all together with our algorithm, the CGM, the pump devices. And the typical integration you see in the market puts a technology burden on the part of patients.”
Dallara said the company wants to provide “one Medtronic experience” even for patients who may prefer a different sensor. The Abbott partnership opened a path that works for patients and for the companies.
“The strategy hasn’t changed,” Dallara said. “We’ve just found a way to expand access to a broader installed base. And I think what hasn’t changed is really our commitment towards the system, our confidence in our CGM. The Simplera and Simplera Sync launches in Europe have gone very well. We are very pleased with the early experience. And we’re pleased that we now have FDA approval for Simplera in the US, and we are working with the agency to get Simplera Sync approved as well for integration with the 780G system.”
