Tandem’s New Pint-Sized Insulin Pump

Looking to recover from a relatively lackluster second quarter in terms of meeting its lofty goals for returns, San Diego-based Tandem Diabetes has locked in a multi-quarter-spanning readjustment plan. The company’s second quarter was rendered a disappointment due to a previously set, optimistic 2022 benchmark for estimated revenue despite a 16% uplift from the same period a year prior. Tandem’s leadership recently signaled that its full-year sales forecast has been shifted down to a predicted 19%-20% growth from 2021 for a total that will land somewhere between $835 million and $845 million.

Perhaps seeing nothing but dollar signs, the company took a rollicking start to 2022—with so hot a first quarter that it bumped up its sales estimates to a 23% increase over 2021—and seemingly bit off more than it could chew. Additionally, the devicemaker has reported an operating loss around $12 million and a net loss of just over $15 million. Those numbers weren’t even within sight of red at this point last year.

While Tandem is citing pandemic pandemonium, heavy U.S. competition, and economic pressures as the trio of factors triggering its fall-off, it still has faith that its products will turn the tide. Its Mobi insulin pump, which is a fraction of the size of the company’s flagship t:slim pump, will be “the first novel form factor launched in our space since we introduced t:slim a decade ago,” as put by Chief Executive Officer John Sheridan. Currently in the final stages of testing, the new pump is expected to earn FDA clearance in early 2023.