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| The Snap Insulin Pump System--Courtesy of Asante |
Asante Solutions has filed to raise up to $45 million in an IPO to help it further commercialize its insulin pump, which is designed to be easy to use and is cheaper than products by major competitors. The startup is treading into territory dominated almost entirely by big medical device companies.
Medtronic ($MDT) has the majority share of the insulin pump market with its MiniMed, with other market players including Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) and Roche ($RHHBY), as well as Insulet and Tandem Diabetes Care, Asante noted in its SEC filing.
Asante Snap Insulin Pump System has a modular design with pre-filled insulin cartridges and disposable pump bodies. Traditional insulin pumps require the user to fill the pump reservoir with insulin multiple times a week with a syringe-like system that Asante deems "consuming and cumbersome."
The company hopes that its insulin pump appeals to patients who are just starting insulin therapy, as well as existing users looking for greater ease of use. The FDA cleared the Snap system in January 2013 for use by adults with Eli Lilly's ($LLY) Humalog insulin cartridges--which Asante said account for about half of the pre-filled insulin cartridge market. Asante conducted a limited launch of the Snap system in the second quarter of 2013 and it hoping to use the offering proceeds to further commercialize it in the U.S.
The upfront cost of the Snap system is about $1,000; that compares to about $4,000 to $6,000 for traditional pumps, Asante said in the filing. It noted that insured patients typically pay about 20% of these costs in copays.
Asante had almost $1 million in revenue during the first 9 months of 2014, with an operating loss of $23.1 million during that period.
Founded in 2006, investors in Asante include Novo A/S (28.72%), an investment group owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, as well as Lundbeckfond Invest (26.88%), Sunstone Life Science Ventures (17.68%), Thomas, McNerney & Partners (14.19%), Seed Capital Denmark (13.21%) and De Novo Ventures (9.72%).
- here is the SEC filing