DexCom Makes Progress Towards Easier Glucose Monitoring

Implications: It's not easy being small, especially in the world of medical devices. Big players leverage branding, large sales forces and deep R&D organizations when they bring technologies to market. Unfortunately, most products are incremental improvements at best. Rarely does the conservative healthcare market benefit from a “leapfrog event”. DexCom announced today that the FDA approved a new calibration process for its seven day glucose sensor. While this announcement may appear trivial, it demonstrates steady progress for an important medical device by a relatively small company.  

Analysis:

Until now, a diabetic patient that used a DexCom continuous glucose monitoring system was required to use a cable that connected the receiver to their blood glucose meter (BGM). This cable allowed the DexCom receiver to download BGM values in order to calibrate the continuous data. The new procedure provides patients more freedom in that they may now input their own values into the receiver without the use of a BGM-to-receiver connection cable. This also frees the patient to be able to use whichever BGM they may already be comfortable with. Life is hectic enough, fewer components means less things to lose. I like small companies, they innovate quickly and I’m pulling for this underdog. Although DexCom is small, it has attracted executive leadership with a proven track record in the Diabetes industry.

Lastly, I should disclose the fact that I worked for DexCom from 2000 until 2004. As employee number 12, I’m proud to see that it continues to grow and thrive in a market not typically conducive to new company survival.