Lilly Inks Deal To Include Dexcom Products In Diabetes System

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) announced that it has inked a development deal with DexCom, Inc. (NASDAQ:DXCM) to integrate the latter’s continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) products and tools into Lilly’s Connected Diabetes Ecosystem.

A Connected Diabetes Ecosystem connects devices and technologies to provide solutions that can cater to an individual’s unique needs in managing diabetes. In fact, devices such as CGM, smart-pens and insulin pumps, drugs, apps and other analytical tools can link patients and their care teams to deal with the disease in a better way. The Connected Diabetes Ecosystem will depend on Lilly’s core diabetes expertise along with the devices and tools provided by Dexcom.

Per Lilly, the agreement with Dexcom will enable the company to reduce the daily burden for people with diabetes. Studies are expected to begin by the end of 2017.

So far this year, shares of Lilly have increased 13.5% compared with the industry’s gain of 14.8%.

Lilly has a strong portfolio of diabetes treatments including Trulicity (GLP-1), Jardiance (SGLT-2), Trajenta, Humulin, Basaglar, Humalog, and Glyxambi. Also, it has a diabetes alliance with Boehringer Ingelheim for many of these products. The company is seeking label expansion of some of these drugs.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Lilly carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked health care stocks in the same space are Sucampo Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SCMP) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Sucampo’s earnings per share estimates have moved up from $1.01 to $1.12 for 2017 and from $1.06 to $1.19 for 2018 over the last 30 days. The company delivered a positive earnings surprise in three of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 15.63%.

Ligand’s earnings per share estimates have climbed $3.68 to $3.70 for 2018 over the last 60 days. The company pulled off a positive earnings surprise in two of the trailing four quarters, with an average beat of 8.22%. The share price of the company has increased 27.9% year to date.

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