Diabetes Care Battle: Abbott vs. Dexcom

Technological advancements and innovations

Dexcom and Abbott are driving technological advancements in diabetes care through continuous product development and innovation. Dexcom focuses on improved performance, convenience, and intelligent insulin administration, while Abbott emphasizes new systems and tests for faster, more accessible healthcare decisions. Both companies are committed to maintaining market leadership through competitive, compelling products.

"Future Developments Product Development: We plan to develop future generations of technologies that are focused on improved performance and convenience and that will enable intelligent insulin administration." --- (DXCM, sec filing, 2024/Q2)

"Our development efforts and diagnostics focus on developing new systems and creating new tests that play an important role in making healthcare decisions, expand the accessibility of testing and deliver a result as fast as possible." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"We will be very well-positioned in '25 and years going forward. And let's not forget at this call, we continue to deliver outstanding worldwide top-line growth, continued growth operating margin expansion, at the same time, we have not at all skimmed on investing on our future products and R&D, and we have a very strong commitment to creating the scale necessary to drive this business where it needs to get and pursue all of our opportunities. Thanks, everybody, and we appreciate your support on the call today." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"I think our product's going to get even more competitive and compelling, I think this is a great opportunity and our objective here is to maintain kind of our shared dominance and our share leadership as it results in this patient segment." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"This transition brings several of the G7 technological benefits to this customer base, such as the smaller form factor, shorter warm-up time, and improved accuracy, and further" --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

Current product offerings and features

Dexcom emphasizes its superior features in the Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) market, offering multiple product tiers and software enhancements. Abbott's Libre CGM technology is integrated with other insulin delivery systems, highlighting its current product offerings.

"That's been very consistent over the course of several years. When you look at the product offerings in the AID world, and if you compare what we have to offer, we offer a number of features that make our offering much superior to anything else that's going to be out there." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"Abbott's Libre single-analyte CGM technology is currently available and integrated with AID offerings from other insulin delivery companies." --- (ABT, press release, 2024/08/07)

"And we're doing so through a tiered process. So we have multiple different product offerings." --- (DXCM, conference, 2024/06/05)

"And we're looking at product offerings and software enhancements to make that experience better." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"So, it's a mix of everything, Bill, but I think we're in a good spot. We will learn in a non-intensive insulin therapy world and figure out how to build product offerings that maximize our experience with those users." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

Market penetration and share

Dexcom is focusing on direct market strategies in Japan due to limited penetration with previous partners, while aiming for significant adoption growth in the U.S. Abbott, despite growing slower than the market, sees opportunities in the integrated pump segment but faces risks in the Type 2 non-insulin segment.

"Kevin Sayer: Our penetration with our partner was next to a very small. Japan has not been a big market for us in spite of the great coverage that has just come out which is why we've gone direct and our distributor partner and us have gone our separate ways." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"I was hoping you could just help or share your thoughts on the share gain opportunity in integrated pump segment of CGM market versus the share loss risk in the Type 2 non-insulin cash pace segment with a competitive launch share early in 2024. I just have one follow up." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"So, I want to understand where was penetration into that market with your distributor partner, and what have been the barriers?" --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"Robert Ford: Sure, well I’m seeing what I thought I was going to see. It might be a little different from what some of you thought you were going to see, but what we’ve been seeing is obviously an increase in the market, so right now the market has accelerated, seems to be growing above 20%, so when you look at our 17%, it’s lower than the market but it’s actually growing faster than what it was growing pre-pandemic, or just after we had done the acquisition. We’ll see if the--I mean, that growth is obviously in value." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

"And we talked about exiting the year right around that 15% adoption across the basal population in the U.S., and the year moving over the course of the year to 23%, so about eight points of penetration." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

Competitive landscape and positioning

Abbott leverages its strong balance sheet and strategic flexibility to enhance its competitive positioning, particularly in emerging markets. Dexcom, meanwhile, is well-positioned for growth with the upcoming launch of Stelo, although it remains cautious about potential changes in product usage patterns. Both companies see significant long-term opportunities in the diabetes care market.

"And so we like that there's always opportunities to add, and we've shown that if there are areas that we feel that we can bring value in a combination then as you mentioned we've got a strong balance sheet and strategic flexibility to do that." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"This leaves us well-positioned to support our near-term growth opportunities, including the highly anticipated launch of Stelo this summer. Turning to guidance, we are raising the midpoint of our revenue" --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"been able to position our presence in these markets as an advantage to these players that really aren’t focusing on emerging markets, they’re focusing more on the opportunity that exists in developed markets, and now they can partner with one single company, reputable company to be able to use that capacity in other markets." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

"We've always been positively surprised, but we are aware that as you move down the acuity curve, there is the potential opportunity for folks to use it maybe a little bit less." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"I think the bigger picture here is, hey, there’s a really big opportunity here and if we do it right, it’s an opportunity that will be more than a flash in the frying pan. It will sustain itself and it could become standard, so." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

Future strategies and outlook

Dexcom's management is focused on future events and strategies, aiming to address new markets. Abbott is confident in sustaining premium growth within the med tech industry. Both companies are strategically planning for continued innovation and market expansion in diabetes care.

"These statements reflect management's intentions, beliefs, and expectations about future events, strategies, competition, products, operating plans, and performance." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"When you look at the future, that gives us the confidence of sustaining its premium growth within the med tech industry." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"We love to talk about the company. And so what we'll do is we'll take you through a little bit of our history, our current and our future and some of the markets we're looking to address over time." --- (DXCM, conference, 2024/06/05)

Financial performance and growth

Abbott has demonstrated strong financial performance with high single to double-digit growth, driven by its med tech portfolio. Despite challenges in predicting future sales due to foreign exchange rates, Abbott raised its guidance based on robust performance and a positive outlook, focusing on sales, margin improvements, and innovation.

"Note, that Abbott has not provided the GAAP financial measure for organic sales growth on a forward-looking basis because the Company is unable to predict future changes in foreign exchange rates, which could impact reported sales growth." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"Note that Abbott has not provided the GAAP financial measure for organic sales growth on a forward-looking basis because the company is unable to predict future changes in foreign exchange rate, which could impact reported sales growth." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

"If you look at the last six quarters, we’ve been delivering top tier, high single digit, double digit growth, and this is on a company that’s doing $40 billion-plus of revenues, so I think that’s pretty impressive. If you look at our med tech portfolio, it was the fastest growing med tech portfolio last year, fastest growing in the first quarter of this year." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

"Typically don't raise guidance in the first quarter, but given the strong performance and the outlook and the remainder of the year, we felt comfortable doing that and we're very well positioned to continue to sustainably deliver top tier results. With that, I'll wrap up and thank all of you for joining us today." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q1)

"We’re focused on the things that we can control and execute on, and in particular some of this great portfolio contribution from our sales top line performance, particularly in accretive businesses, is a contributor here, and one that we anticipate will continue to expand here throughout the year. We have dedicated teams in each one of our businesses focused solely on gross margin improvement, productivity yield improvements, cost reductions, innovation that brings accretion to the portfolio." --- (ABT, earning call, 2024/Q2)

Partnerships and collaborations

Dexcom has established extensive partnerships with companies like Tandem, Insulet, and Novo, enhancing its diabetes care solutions. Abbott, meanwhile, has entered a global partnership to advance its continuous glucose monitoring system, though financial details remain undisclosed. Both companies leverage collaborations to strengthen their market positions.

"We believe pumps partners we've connected to, you can see Tandem, Insulet, Lilly, Beta, Novo, our friends at Cygnos and Levels, we're connected to all of those, and we'll connect many more beyond that, by the way." --- (DXCM, conference, 2024/06/05)

"Financial terms of the partnership and timing for commercial availability were not disclosed." --- (ABT, press release, 2024/08/07)

"We still have a very strong DME business, and certainly the DME business continues to be supported by our partners very, very well." --- (DXCM, earning call, 2024/Q1)