Dexcom’s Kevin Sayer talks new G7 clinical trial data

At the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference this week, Dexcom, maker of continuous glucose monitoring systems, made waves after CEO Kevin Sayers announced new clinical trial data from its yet to be released CGM, the G7. 

The 308 person trial demonstrated that the G7’s mean absolute relative difference (MARD) was 8.2% for adults and 8.1% for pediatric patients. The G7 was submitted to the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2021 and is still awaiting regulatory clearance. 

On the financial side, Sayers revealed the company is expected to make $2.448 billion in unaudited revenue for 2021, a 27% increase from 2020. In this upcoming year, the company forecasts that it will bring in between $2.82 billion and $2.94 billion in total revenue. 

MobiHealthNews sat down with Sayers to discuss what’s next for Dexcom and the future of diabetes care. 

MobiHealthNews: I’d love to start off with an overview of the news you presented at J.P. Morgan and to hear a little bit more about the G7. 

Sayers: We closed the year well. We grew 27% for the year, and during a pandemic time in ’20 and ’21, we hung another billion dollars of revenue on our results. And I would challenge anybody to do better than what we’ve done during these times.

Big news out of J.P. Morgan, and some of the things people are talking to me about and asking us. We talked a lot about our Dexcom One product that we launched in four European countries, and that is an opportunity. [It’s] the first time we’ve differentiated on software as a product, as a different product. We’ve never done that before. And doing that we think is a big part of our future. We do think that we can ultimately segment this market into a couple of product lines and then be very successful with it. …

The features of the G7 that I talked about the most … it’s 60% smaller than our G6 and a little bit bigger than a nickel, a little smaller than a quarter. It’s really very unnoticeable to people who wear it. It’s a half hour warm up. … It is still connected. It will be connected to everybody. But in addition to being interoperable and connectable, we’ve also enhanced cybersecurity here. 

We really have taken new technology. Our circuit and chip in the G6 was developed way back in the 2016-17 time frame, and cybersecurity and Bluetooth has advanced significantly since then. So the new chips we have in this will again make people feel safer…

We’ve developed a new software platform for this where some of your data that typically you’d find in our CLARITY application – which are trends over a longer period of time – is going to be available right in the app, and people will therefore be able to look and see what their timing ranges for some period of time and get more information. [It’s] just an easier user experience with respect to starting up and everything we’ve learned. …

Then we get to the accuracy data. Dexcom has always been the best. …Finger sticks in their tests back in the day were like 10% off from laboratory blood instrument measurements. Our mean to average relative difference is in the low eight with this product when compared to a laboratory instrumentation. So we’re getting close to our finger sticks with the accuracy of this. People can really rely on it to make good decisions and they’ll feel very comfortable with what they have. [It] again sets the bar higher for everybody else.

MobiHealthNews: I know in the past we’ve talked a lot about maybe expanding beyond just people with diabetes. Is that still a consideration or is that still something that you’re looking at in the future?

Sayers: That is very much something we’re looking at in the future. And we have relationships with a lot of early phase companies that are trying in an authorized, approved manner. To be clear, they’ve got the proper paperwork to get people using CGM for just health and wellness. And the results from these guys have been really good. 

Two studies I talked about in my presentation, the Onduo study, which saw reductions – and these were the Type 2 patients – but when you look at the combined set of outcomes, [you see] better cardiovascular results, weight loss, all sorts of things. And then Welldoc ran a study again in Type 2 patients, but people who had an average glucose above 180 in this cohort of patients. They used the product after 24 weeks of continuous CGM, where reduced average glucose by an average of 54 points. So then you get into other uses of the technology, metabolic stuff. Somebody concerned about what they’re eating or as prediabetes approaches. How close are you? When do you start a compound? Maybe to stop this thing?

MobiHealthNews: I’d love to talk a little bit more about the software. How does Dexcom One change the game for the future, and particularly Dexcom’s big vision for the future? What kinds of capabilities can you foresee with adding software?

Sayers: With Dexcom One, what we did is we took features out. We made it a more simple product that would justify a lower price point. And we took some of the alerts and alarm features out. We took the ability to share data out. We took some things out to make it a more simple product and more competitive with what’s in those marketplaces. And so in the future, on the software side … I could see a day where we have a menu of features that either people can get reimbursed for, or they can choose not to use if they don’t want to, or they can pay for if they’re highly sophisticated. And what I’d love is a platform whereby if people develop those features, we can add tiles to our own software and make it so you can get out and use another app and keep Dexcom as your hub.

MobiHealthNews: What do you see as 2022 comes down the pipeline? What are some of the biggest changes in diabetes care that you’re looking out for? And what are some of the things that you foresee for Dexcom as well?

Sayers: One thing we’d like to see is increased access all over the world to our technology. And while it’s not highly technical, it’s just really important. When this product is reimbursed and covered, people come and get it and they use it and they have incredible experiences with it. …

I think you’ll have some very exciting developments on the pharmaceutical side as people keep these new Type 2 compounds. [They] look very exciting and very engaging. It will be interesting to see how they roll out and where that all shakes out within the drug companies. I know they’re all working very hard on those compounds and they appear to produce very good results.  

I think the other thing in our world, we’re very much anticipating the launch of Omnipod Five with insulin this year. We’ve worked with insulin for many years and we were so excited to get this integrated product finally.