Shortly after launching its integrated continuous glucose monitoring system, Dexcom announced a 42 percent increase in year-over-year sales during its Q2 earnings call.
“Not only did we exceed our annual growth guidance for the second consecutive quarter but the business continues to accelerate,” Kevin Ronald Sayers, CEO of Dexcom, said during the call. “All of our key segments demonstrated strong year-over-year growth with US and [out of US] revenues up 35 percent and 78 percent, respectively.”
The company reported big strides in terms of revenue; this quarter it raked in $243 million in revenue, up from $171 million in Q2 2017. The company also reported outperforming its earlier projections by $36.8 million this quarter.
In March the company got the green light from the FDA to commercially launch its G6, an integrated continuous glucose monitoring (iCGM) system, making it the first interoperable CGM to get the designation. The Dexcom G6 remains the only FDA-authorized iCGM that can integrate with other compatible medical devices and electronic interfaces, such as automated insulin dosing systems, insulin pumps, blood glucose meters, or other electronic devices used for diabetes management, according to a statement released by the FDA at the time of the announcement.
However, the company quietly began shipping the G6 on June 4, only a few weeks before the quarter ended on June 30. The G6 launch was actually ahead of schedule — originally the launch was planned for the second half of 2018, but the leadership decided to move it up. While it's only been on the market for a short period, the executive team remained positive about the future of the product.
“As we've said in the past, G6 represents the most important and complex launch in our history, highlighted by the new applicator, improved form factor and market-leading performance, all without finger stick calibrations,” Sayers said. “We are well positioned, and the team remains intensely focused on launching our new G6 system.”
The leadership team attributed the bulk of the Q2 sales to its G5 product. However, as time goes on, the plan is to switch patients over to the G6 at their request, according to Quentin Blackford, CFO at Dexcom.
During the call the leadership announced that it has decided to bump its 2018 guidance, and up the number from the range of $850 million to $860 million, to a flat $925 million.
“[W]e have increased our sales growth guidance significantly given the strength we have seen across the board through the first six months of the year,” Sayers said. “Our original 2018 revenue growth guidance called for an increase in the mid-to-upper teens, and we now expect annual growth just under 30 percent. Despite our success so far, we continue to execute through a growing number of variables in our marketplace. This requires us to remain thoughtful around our assumptions for market share and pricing dynamics.”
The executives also talked competition during the call. Since the G6 is the only iCGM on the market, there was discussion of competitors catching up.
“Just reviewing the data that was published ... on the next-generation Libre, I don't think they're close clearly in the hypoglycemia range,” Steven Robert Pacelli, EVP of strategy and corporate development at Dexcom, said on the call. “Their performance just isn't good enough to meet the iCGM standards. We looked at Medtronic's data on the Guardian Connect standalone, it falls a little short. So at this point, I don't think there's anybody coming.”
The leadership team also talked about the company’s ongoing projects, such as the Verily partnership aimed at created a mini CGM. The company reported that the first-generation Verily device is in its validation and verification stage. The team is also looking ahead to the second generation, which they report is on track for a 2021 commercial launch.
