Until I became interested in buying an insulin pump I guess it didn’t really occur to me nor faze me what the state of the pharmaceutical companies’ balance sheets was…. everything I was sourcing for my diabetes was low cost – testing meters, insulin, needles, lancets etc.
Now that I’m looking to invest $7,000+ in a piece of kit for my diabetes (I’m still very fortunately on a loan pump, will have to give it back towards the end of the year) I am suddenly more aware of the other forces at play. With Smiths Medical announcing last month that they’re stopping the manufacture of Cozmo pumps and withdrawing from the ‘diabetes business’ altogether, I’ve realised that I need to not only consider the price and features and benefits of the pumps I’m looking at to buy, but also what sort of financial position the companies are in.
According to this article, none of the big companies are doing too well at the moment. Johnson & Johnson are down 11% in the U.S (they own Animas), and Abbott Labs are down 13% in the U.S. Roche is apparently up 7% overall in the last quarter but that’s across the board, I can’t find their sales figures for diabetes only.
I’ve no doubt this is all part of the Global Financial Crisis. Reports are saying that consumers are simply cutting back on their testing and consumables, and this is starting to show in the figures. I’ll be keeping an eye out as I get closer to a purchase!
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Chris wrote
I have not been concerned too much on the state of the pharmaceutical companies’ balance sheets. I have been concerned at the level (and reliability) of support I can get in New Zealand. Out of the companies in this country that market insulin pumps, there is only one that guarantees 24/7 support from some qualified person IN NEW ZEALAND. If one pump trainer is on holiday, there is always another to fill the gap. The other companies offer good support, but some of it is from overseas (out of normal working hours).
In over 5 years of pumping, I can assure you that New Zealand Medical & Scientific support is of excellent quality. As an aside, my pump trainer is passing through my neck of the woods this afternoon, and is calling in to my home on her way through. I know that you have already met one of the other pump trainers (who demolished the worker in a cafe where you met her).
I think the level of support that you can get, rather than the balance sheet of the pharmaceutical company, is of prime importance to you.
Matt Taylor wrote
Hmmmm …. not negating the point you’re making Chris …. in my experience prime focus of drug co’s is to make pump sales and generate profits for shareholders.
This is fair enough except it leaves us exposed to massive mark-ups on the consumables which (cannulae and tubing anyway) more than offset the cost of providing good customer sevice.
Looking fwd to catching up when we do.
Nic wrote
You both have fair points and Chris my tendency is to favour the personalities and level of service you will get with a pump because after you’ve bought one that is the day to day reality.
Also – when you buy something as expensive as a pump (in my current financial circumstances anyway), you hope to have that item for at least 4-6 years – so the most important thing at that point is that you will get good service from the company you bought it from to keep it running optimally etc.
However I live in eternal hope that the cost of these things will come down a bit over the years and it’s important to me that the company who manufacture my pump stay in business and keep funding the improvement of the technology – as intelligent and closed-loop pumps become increasingly available in the States I’d very much like a piece of that action too.