Medtronic launches connected smart insulin pen gained in Companion Medical deal

Medtronic aims to quickly reap what it’s sown with a number of tuck-in deals this year, by rolling out the smart insulin pen picked up in its strategic acquisition of Companion Medical this summer.

Designed for people with diabetes who take multiple injections per day, the FDA-cleared InPen will link with the medtech giant’s Guardian Connect continuous glucose monitoring system, to help track insulin doses alongside real-time blood sugar readings through a single smartphone app provided by Medtronic.  

The InPen itself lasts for about a year and currently works with short-acting insulins, though the company is working to include longer-acting insulins in the future.

The InPen smart insulin pen (Companion)

Companion’s legacy app logs the amount of insulin on board and includes a bolus calculator for doses around meals. Medtronic said that app will continue to display information from other compatible glucose monitoring systems, but on a three-hour delay.

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"Our successful integration of these devices in just two months following the close of our Companion Medical acquisition is a testament to the close collaboration of our employees and strong passion to serve our customers with better solutions to manage their diabetes," Sean Salmon, president of Medtronic’s diabetes business, said in a statement

“We're pleased to build on the success of InPen with added real-time glucose data which provides a complete picture for users as they look to give themselves the right dose of insulin at the right time," Salmon added.

Following the August announcement of the Companion deal, analysts at Jefferies painted the acquisition as a “bold move” that could add $200 million in incremental revenue over time, though Companion posted just about $11 million in 2019 sales. The financial terms of the buyout were not disclosed.

Medtronic has made seven tuck-in acquisitions so far in 2020 to fuel its growth, most recently with the purchase of Ai Biomed, makers of safety probes used in thyroid surgery. In a recent letter to shareholders, Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha said that cadence of dealmaking will continue.