MiniMed Pump Keeps Company Ahead of Market

By CARLOS MARTINEZ

San Fernando Valley Business Journal

A new high-tech insulin pump that uses wireless technology to measure doses could be an important development in the treatment of diabetes and a boon to one of its creators, Northridge-based Medtronic MiniMed.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the Paradigm system made by MiniMed and Becton Dickinson & Co. The system integrates MiniMed’s Paradigm insulin pump with Becton Dickinson’s glucose monitor that uses MiniMed’s wireless communications software.

Benjamin C. Andrew, an analyst with William Blair & Co. in Chicago, said the new system would likely become a big seller for MiniMed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a quarter or a third of its hardware revenue,” he said.

Last year MiniMed estimated net income of $475 million, with $230 million coming from its insulin pump or hardware business, Andrew said, noting that there is no similar wireless pump in the market.

The company itself would not project sales for the new insulin pump system. As it is, MiniMed has about 80 percent of the insulin pump market.

“This is a system that will definitely improve the quality of lives for our patients,” said Francine Kaufman, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and past president of the American Diabetes Association

MiniMed, a unit of Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc., is the largest manufacturer of insulin pumps with a market share valued at about $600 million. Medtronic acquired MiniMed in 2001 from its founder and owner, Alfred E. Mann, for $3.7 billion.

MiniMed developed the first insulin pump in 1983 and has continued to improve versions of the device since then. The company says it plans to eventually develop a blood sugar sensing and insulin delivery system that will eliminate the pricking of fingers to produce blood for current blood monitors.

The new Paradigm system features a device that calculates how much insulin a patient needs after a meal and then signals an implanted pump to provide that dose.

MiniMed says the system combines two steps in diabetes management: blood sugar monitoring and insulin dosing through wireless technology.

“This new integrated pump and monitor system is a major breakthrough in diabetes management,” said Bruce Bode, medical director of the diabetes Resource Center in Atlanta.