What happened
Shares of Insulet (PODD 0.92%), a medical device company, are jumping in response to regulatory approval of a new product. Investors excited about the company's new automated insulin delivery system pushed the stock 15% higher as of 11:57 a.m. ET on Friday.
So what
Today the company announced the FDA has finally approved OmniPod 5 after several long delays. Omnipod 5 is the first tubeless automated insulin delivery system that integrates with a popular continuous glucose monitor from DexCom (DXCM -2.67%).
Image source: Getty Images.
The FDA granted Omnipod clearance for type 1 diabetes patients age 6 or older. Together with a smartphone, the new device allows patients and their parents to manage blood sugar levels without injections, tubes, or finger sticks.
Now what
Every five minutes, Omnipod 5 receives a reading from the DexCom glucose monitor and injects insulin accordingly. This allows for heaps more time in a safe blood sugar range.
Omnipod 5 isn't cheap, but it's going to be a lot less expensive than trips to the emergency room when patients' blood sugar levels spike or crash. Constant glucose monitoring is so popular with patients and their health plans that finger pokes and strips of paper are quickly becoming a thing of the past.
As the first tubeless automated insulin delivery system, Omnipod 5 could become Insulet's most successful product yet, but we probably won't see strong sales in the first quarter of 2022. The company's planning a limited market release until it's worked out any potential kinks.
