Medtronic Delivers Favorable Outcome On Guardian Connect

Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT) recently released real-world data on its Guardian Connect continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system and Sugar.IQ diabetes assistant app. The data was presented at the 79^th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The positive outcome indicates major progress for the company in the field of diabetes management.

Details of the Study

The data presented were recorded from people who use the Guardian Connect system paired with Sugar.IQ diabetes assistant. The latter is a separate unique intelligent app that continuously analyzes how an individual`s glucose levels respond to food intake, insulin dosages, daily routines and other factors.

The data presented that people using the Guardian Connect system along with the Sugar.IQ app witnessed 4.1% more Time in Range (63.4%) compared with Guardian Connect alone (59.3%), which represents about an extra hour per day.

The study was based on assimilated data from more than 3,100 diabetes patients that used Guardian Connect system for at least five days. It was also found that the overall system`s predictive alerts curbed low sensor glucose excursions by almost two-fold and high sensor glucose excursions by four-fold compared to those not using Sugar.IQ. Avoidance of high and low episodes is a crucial aspect of diabetes management.

These data findings indicate that the Sugar.IQ diabetes assistant, together with the company’s Guardian Connect system, may result in behavior change. This is likely to lead to enhanced clinical outcomes.

Market Prospects

Per Allied Market Research, global diabetes care devices market was valued at $6.86 billion in 2016 and is estimated to reach $10.20 billion by 2023 at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2017.Hence, the outcomes of this study is well-timed.

Recent Developments

Lately, Medtronic has been investing in quite a few crucial investments that are expected to strengthen the diabetes care portfolio.

Medtronic and Tidepool 501 (c) (103), a non-profit organization dedicated to making diabetes data more accessible, actionable and meaningful, announced their collaboration to create an interoperable automated insulin pump system. Medtronic will develop a future Bluetooth-enabled MiniMed pump that will be compatible with Tidepool Loop, a future FDA-regulated, open source automated insulin delivery app for iPhone and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Watch. The systems are currently in development.

In May, the company announced the publication of the SMILE (Study of MiniMed 640G Insulin Pump with SmartGuard in prevention of Low Glucose Events in adults with Type 1 diabetes) study. It is the largest randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of the MiniMed 640G system with SmartGuard Suspend before low technology compared with insulin pump therapy without continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in declining hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Price Performance

In the past year, the company’s shares have outperformed the industry. The stock has surged 12.9% compared with the industry’s 4.2% rise.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Medtronic currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) , Penumbra (NYSE:PEN) and Bruker Corporation (NASDAQ:BRKR) . While Cerner sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Penumbra and Bruker carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Cerner’s long-term earnings growth rate is expected to be 13.5%.

Penumbra’s long-term earnings growth rate is projected at 21.5%.

Bruker’s long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 11.7%.

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