#158 Dexcom G6 Overview with Kevin Sayer, Dexcom President
Scott Benner
Kevin Sayer returns to the podcast to fill us in on everything you want to know about the Dexcom G6...
The Dexcom G6 has been approved by the FDA! Kevin shares what's new, different and better about your favorite CGM. We also talk about timelines to market, functionality and much more.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
This is an exciting day. Hello and welcome to Episode 158 of the Juicebox Podcast. Today I'm going to be talking with the President and CEO of Dexcom. Kevin Sarah, Kevin's making, I think his third appearance on the podcast and today we're talking about some brand new news. Just yesterday the FDA approved the Dexcom g six continuous glucose monitor, and Kevin and I are going to talk all about it. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Omni pod and Omni pod of course, is a tubeless insulin pump and is the one that Arden has been using for GE since she was four years old. And we absolutely love it. When you're talking about bumping and nudging blood sugar's on the podcast, we do it with it on the pod and you could go to my on the pod.com Ford slash juice box with a link in your show notes to find out more. The podcast is also sponsored today by Dexcom Dexcom, makers of the new g six continuous glucose monitor energy five, it's all good dexcom.com forward slash juice box the links in your show notes.
Guys, we're going over it all today. As you know, the Dexcom g six has just been approved by the FDA. I've got Kevin Sayer here from Dexcom to talk all about it everything he can talk about right now. timelines are all little up in the air, but we go over it. So when can you expect the new g six? How much is it going to cost? Is there an upgrade program? What's with this thing? They say there's no more finger sticks, etc, etc, etc. It's all coming right now.
Nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before being bold with insulin.
Unknown Speaker 1:52
Kevin fair, Kevin. Hey,
Scott Benner 1:54
Scott, how are you?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 1:55
I'm good. How about you? Very well. Thank
Scott Benner 1:57
you. I've been thinking about you a lot this morning. I'm sure you were thinking about me too.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 2:03
I'm ready. I knew we were gonna chat again. I was looking forward to it.
Scott Benner 2:07
Well, I was thinking about you because I thought, gosh, how many times has poor Kevin had to say what I'm gonna ask him about?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 2:14
No, it's fine. I you you have a great. I always get good feedback on on your podcast. So I I'm excited to chat about this with anybody. Kevin, is
Scott Benner 2:25
this your third time on the podcast? Maybe? I believe this is my third time on the podcast. Yes. Appreciate it every time you've been on Thank you so much. I forget where I was exactly sitting in my living room in the afternoon. And I saw Oh Dexcom got the the approval from the FDA for the G sex. Oh, this is exciting. And I jumped up to the, you know, I have a blog and everything like that says like, Well, let me let me try to get this information out as quickly as I can. I like to be first covered. And, and and as I did it, I found myself getting more and more excited. So I think it's interesting, when the real life kind of implications of the technology overwhelm my kind of like feeling like my job feeling I have for the blog, you know what I mean? So I was just all my excitement is steeped in what I expect, but don't really know anything about so I'm just really excited to talk to you and find out the real details and see if my expectations are going to meet reality or not. What do you think are the the highlights of this leap from G five g six?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 3:30
The list is pretty long. Let me start with with the fact that there the system does not require any calibrations.
Scott Benner 3:38
As you're talking, could you do me a favor and tell me? How do you accomplish that? Like is there as much as you're allowed to say I'd love to know the like the behind the curtain of like, how do you get to that.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 3:49
I certainly can't go into all the details, but I can get into some of them. Obviously, when a sensor is factory calibrated, that means we have a good indication how that sensor will perform inside of of somebody's body. So in essence, the software for that particular sensor experience would anticipate the performance of that sensor to happen in a certain way. And I can't get into the specific specifics of how we do it. But that's how it's done. But more importantly than that than that, you know that my new detail it relates to the processes and controls and the science that we've developed over the years. When we went down the G six path, for example, when we started we were gonna have all the mechanical features I'll talk about in a minute, but keep the same algorithm. But our our data scientists are going to scientists came and said we think we have a better way to do this. But it's going to take a little more time and we sat in a room and said but but if it's going to be better, let's do it. So the algorithm the software has been upgraded to be more consistent and recognize how the sensor performs the manufacturing processes again, we've got certainly one new membrane material involved in this On the sensor because the sensor blocks acetaminophen, something that people have been concerned about forever, getting a high reading, if they take, you know big dose of NyQuil to go to bed at night, the last thing you want to do is wake up with a high went, when you may not be as high as it says you are we blocked that now. And so there's a lot of core fundamental technology that makes this a more reliable and more steady, more consistent experience. That goes into factory calibration. Okay, now I will add on top of that is disclosed in our materials. Got, we do have the option. And we did this for the future almost more than the present. If people would would rather calibrate their sensors if they have a young child, and you really want to make sure and feel they're more dialed in. And they calibrated down Option exists within the menus as well. And so if somebody wants to calibrate their, their system, they can't.
Scott Benner 5:54
And so I saw because you guys were really nice and sent me out like this little kid of demo supplies, which by the way is really cool, because the first thing that struck me is that the applicator is way smaller than I thought it was from the photographs
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 6:05
well, so I started with no calibration, as far as their features, let's go to the insertion system for a long time. And one of the biggest obstacles, I'll say obstacles that new patients have had to overcome is is the way our sensor was inserted. It just looks intimidating, even though in most cases, it doesn't hurt. And it's fair and it is very effective. I mean, that technology served us for more than 10 years it it was a good platform. But it still isn't something that when you look at it to be a mainstream consumer device, this new applicator the experiences is pretty remarkable. You peel the tape off the bottom, you put it on your body where you can insert your sensor and flip the safety tab off the button on the top of the sensor push a button and you're done. And and and the applicators done and it's in your body. And we effectively from an engineering standpoint, replicated automated basis what happened with that manual sensor that you did before where you push the plunger and pulled the ring back. That's all automated now. And that all happens in milliseconds, not seconds or two seconds, it happens very, very quickly. So a patient will put it on and click the button I've had a couple of times where I've I've been involved with with people and Human Factors type work where we didn't, we said I'm gonna put the sensor in on three and you tell me if it hurts. And then I did this to somebody, so I have to confess, then I push the button. And then I said 123. And they said I didn't feel it, I didn't feel I push the button before I started counting it, it's that much different of an experience from mechanical nature. And then the profile of the transmitter is much lower. When I go to the diabetes camps, or go to see WD de or even you know nada, as we see all the people wearing our product out there. And that transmitter just always looked too big to me and the guys who will tell you I push and push and push for smaller, this is a very good advancement for patients. As far as the profile it will stick, you know won't get caught in your clothes as much. You notice a very big difference.
Scott Benner 8:21
While I'm holding, I'm holding the demo of it in my hand and it barely the transmitter barely barely barely sticks above the sensor
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 8:28
bed. Yeah, it's it's it's much smaller and much better. So you get to the convenience of the experience. And it's it's much nicer the 10 day were labeled indication, the center certainly performs out to 10 days very well. Gee, there's a new alert, there's a predictive low alert that if you're going to hit the are are very low alert of 55, it's going to give if you turn it on that alert again will come to you like 20 minutes before I think it's 20 or 30. I don't know the exact number on that alert better predictive low, is probably more more useful for some of our patients than a threshold alert where you go straight to 70. You know, and he doesn't work till you get to 70. The other thing that g six has, and it allows us the same flexibility. And all the same connectivity features that g five did, I will have an Android and an iOS app will still be able to share data, patients will still be able to caregivers, they'll be able to run share. And the flexibility of the G six app is similar to our most recent g five app release whereby there's flexible alert schedules that you can set whereby you can set a different alert schedule for the middle of day than for the rest of the day and things like that. So we think it's a great product. I would tell you as I look at it it it really is what I'd always hoped CGM would be and now that we're here we're going to push Yet to get it even better, so it, it really is the beginning of a great day when we launched g4 in 2012. That in my mind was the first time that we had delivered the promise and this is, this is what CGM could be because it performs so much better than our our seven plus system. And it's obvious in the growth, we've experienced the depth sensor platform, and we've used the same sensor through G five, really led to increased adoption and had a big, a big, big influence on on patients lives. g six is another platform change for us. It's every bit as important as we went from seven plus to g4. And this is something we can build on with future generations of products for a number of years. So we're really excited about it.
Scott Benner 10:46
Well, I mean, I couldn't agree with you more I had we started with a seven plus. And it was I mean, at the time it was it was fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. And then the g4 was such a leap. And then the share kind of when share started creeping in, I thought, wow, this, this ups the game for what this is for, for, you know, caregivers of people who care about people with diabetes, big leap, I found the G five to be I thought much more accurate to finger sticks, then I then I found the g4 to be and it wasn't to say the g4 was way off. I just there was more consistency to the accuracy. From there.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 11:19
There was a new algorithm we updated the algorithm from G 40. g five, we have a new algorithm in G six.
Scott Benner 11:26
Yeah. And so you didn't just change the algorithm for G six, but but it's also whatever this little whatever this little magic sensor wire here is, it's different as well.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 11:34
There's some new membrane technology on the sensor wire. Yes. And that's how we block the acetaminophen interference. So the manufacturing process is different. Like I said, pretty much everything we do. And I've said this number of times today, pretty much everything we do with G six is different than what we did before. And so this is going to be a really rapid, a big change for us.
Scott Benner 11:58
Is there much of a letdown, or behind the scenes, you're working towards whatever your next step is.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 12:04
There's no let down here, what we're so fired up to get this approval and get this product out. But you know, we have, and we have an r&d close to you between 350 and 400. People Well, when you take all our software engineers, we had all of them together at an off site meeting, I think it was last week where I got to speak to them. And it's pretty fun I they don't get to let out, we focus on everything that we can do to make these systems better and meet patient's needs in the best way possible. So with G six, this is now an execution story to a large extent, we've got a laundry list and get it out there has got to perform for the masses the way it's performed in our studies, right. And we've got a great track record of doing that in the past. And we'll continue to do that in the future. And this is a global launch. This is not just a domestic most of our products we've done you know domestic first are international first and waited a while and did us know waiting here. We're going to launch in the US here in the second quarter. And then we helped roll we're gonna roll Europe out in the second half of 2018. We're gonna go everywhere with this hit Canada. And
Scott Benner 13:15
I have to tell you, a lot of people in Australia listen to podcasts and Hi guys, but they they reached out to is that do we hit Australia in Canada,
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 13:24
I don't have the timing for all the countries will roll. A lot of it depends upon the mark regulation and what the regulatory authorities accept. There are some places where we have to do additional filings. And once this is approved, then we'll hit CE mark, and then we have to do some additional filings in some of these countries. After we get seen mark. I don't have the schedule of all the countries in front of me, but it will get to Australia. Okay. At some point in time, the Australia community's been great for us.
Scott Benner 13:50
I swear to you, I just looked up one day and I looked at the map and I was like why do people listen in China and as well as clicking on the app and like we can all the people that listen to Australia. Let's talk for a second about the Omni pod. Sure it's simple and discreet and waterproof. What does that mean? Here's one example. Do you know on the Omnipod website, they give you the steps for using the pod step one, fill the pod. Step two, apply the pod step three push starts. So let me say it again. The Omni pod insulin management system is a tubeless insulin pump that is precise, flexible, simple, discreet, and waterproof. It gives you the kind of peace of mind that you're looking for. How would you try a free demo pod? You can go to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box or click on the link in your show notes. what'll happen is you'll fill out the tiniest bit of information like your name, your address, that's pretty much it. And you're contacting Ollie pod and tell them hey, I'd like to try a demo. Now the demo is a free, nonfunctioning demo pod, but you'll still get the pod you can hold it and see what it's all about. You can apply it to your skin where for a while, it's really kind of great. And then if you like it, if you're like hey, I do really like the Omni pod. Scott told me I would and I do think Just keep the process going with Omni pod and they'll, they'll help you get started. That's pretty much it. If you don't like it, it's not like they're gonna chase you around like a, like you owe money, they're just gonna be like, Alright, it wasn't for them, whatever. So there really is no reason not to try. I mean, it's free, right? They're not going to oblige you to do anything. It might as well give it a try and see what you think. I mean, listen, how would you like this to be your processor, putting on your insulin pump, fill the pod, apply the pod press start. So it's that easy, and it's tubeless. And there's no obligation, I just get to try a demo app. I'm looking for reasons not to do it. But I can't think of any, I think you should try my omnipod.com forward slash juice boxes. Let's get back to Kevin Sanger, huh. Let me drill down a little bit with some of the stuff so no finger sticks. Because you don't have to calibrate but you can calibrate. So when you're putting the new sensor bed on, there's this, because I have the demo receiver here, what I saw was, I can I guess scan a code that's on the sensor bed, or I can choose not to.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 16:02
And so the way it works, and we're getting into a lot of details here. But the way it works is if you're using the mobile app, for example, when you put in before you put the sensor on, you scan the sensor box, and that are the bed, the bottom of the sensor wherever the barcode is. And that's what gets the factory calibration code into the algorithm. If you use the receiver, you would enter that code manually or scan it through See, I think there's even code you have to enter it. Okay, if you don't enter the calibration, if you don't enter that code, and then the center, we go into calibration mode. So the code is not a Oh, you got to do scan it with your phone. It's very it's relatively Yeah,
Scott Benner 16:44
no, I just I, I was trying to understand why there was an option to do one or the other. And because, you know, I think it's I don't think it's a big secret that, you know, we people restart their sensors with G five and G four. And I think I just took Arden's off after like the second restart the other day well, and as I did it, I have to say to you, the last three days of it was convenience and laziness, I should have taken it off. And I, and it made me really think about what we're talking about here today, because there was a drop dead moment where I started trusting what I was doing more than I should have. And it wasn't a safe situation anymore.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 17:20
You know, it's funny you say that. Because as part of the classification, what the FDA did with us, with the special controls around this de novo approval, and one of the special controls is the center has to shut off at the end of the period that has been proven clinically accurate, that the patients can't restart it anymore. And within no calibration algorithm, you can understand the science behind that. Because if we assume it's a brand new sensor, a brand new sensor behaves different than one that's been in your body for 10 days that you would restart, that the algorithm assumes it's brand new. And then you could have issues with no calibrations. We didn't ever test this. Because we've never tested them, you know, I mean, we're labeled for we have a labeled indication, right? So then you could end up trusting something that you shouldn't trust I plugged the FDA for doing that, I think they did the safest thing for patients and 10 days is better than seven. And ultimately, it's our objective to get this thing out to a longer period of time to get it out to 14 days to where by the restart, that you've done in the past doesn't become an issue, but it's going to have to perform for those extra days. And one of the other features in this new algorithm. I'll give you another example of one. If we see the sensor acting app, or if the software sees a sensor not behaving, it will shut it off early and say you know what, this isn't working, call us. Okay, because we can we can detect things and again, all about patient safety. Yeah. All about making that experience better.
Scott Benner 18:50
Omni pod does the same thing. if if if the onboard system decides this thing's not right, then it's about your safety at that. But let me ask you a question. So I have two questions wrapped around this. The first one is his first day accuracy improved.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 19:05
We believe it is. We believe it is more consistent. If you look at our clinical data, the first day accuracy is is very good. Okay. We think it's very consistent. I don't have the G five tables in front of me, but from my own personal experience in wearing them I can tell you I've had no first day problems but I don't have diabetes, either.
Scott Benner 19:23
I also don't see you know, it's funny i i don't see a lot of issue on first day, but then I hear some people that do and I don't know if that's wrapped around how they calibrate or what they how they handle.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 19:33
I'm not sure actually I can tell you it's more physiology than anything else. Oh, okay. It because the way your body handles the, the puncture that's created by the needle when the sensors inserted. I think it varies from person to person, but by and large. We've seen good first day performance with the G six and that was one of our goals is to make the performance better across all Mondays.
Scott Benner 19:56
Let me let me ask you this a moment ago you said you hope to get it from 10 To 14 days one at some point, would that be is the goal to get the 14 days with the current year?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 20:08
Not this year, we wouldn't do it this year. And that would be at earliest to 19. Okay, situation, and we'll have to run more clinical studies to do that. So stay tuned. But that's certainly our that's certainly our plan right now. Cool.
Scott Benner 20:23
So the load sharing stuff has changed there, I can still share with five people. That hasn't changed
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 20:29
now, but we are working on revisions to the share app. So stay tuned, I think will will increase that experience over the course of the next year as well.
Scott Benner 20:39
Is that to do something with the gosh, how do I say this? I pretty sure I signed an NDA. But I did a lot my daughter and I did a lot of like, feedback testing and giving a lot of examples for like, what an app should look like is that that's that process still happening.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 20:56
We do a lot of work like that. And I really couldn't tell you what they're going to change because I haven't seen the new one. But suffice it to say we're we're committed to making that software better. That's literally the next app in the in the series of apps that we've worked on that we want to refresh. Okay, but I really don't have a timeline for it. I haven't even seen what they're gonna do. But they have talked with a lot of patients and got a lot of feedback. Well,
Scott Benner 21:20
if it's anything close to what I saw, it's very cool. So I'm, okay, two hours, I'm looking on some of the text I have here. The device, a two hour sensor warm up still exists, but it says within two hours, could it pop on sooner? Or is that just his channel
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 21:36
pop on within two hours within a minute, it's not gonna pop on in 20 or 30 minutes? It's within the bids, right around that two hour minutes?
Scott Benner 21:43
Give or take? idea? Okay. Okay. Let's see, um, do you guys try to extend to different Android phones, or are there just some that that are that are more widely used by people, and those are the ones you stick with.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 21:59
We stick with the phones that are most widely used phones, we try and do as many of those as we can. It takes a lot of work to support all those Android phones, because Android has become a different Android for everybody. Android, Samsung, Android, LG, Android, Motorola. And so we support the ones that we can, we can't support all of them. We just don't have the engineers to do that, or the staff to do that. So we support the more widely utilized ones. When we see a new product coming out that we know is going to be popular, we quickly try and get that one approved and into our authorized phone list. But it you know it's process when you were when you were the G five.
Scott Benner 22:42
Do you use it with a phone? Yeah, I
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 22:45
always use a phone. And I don't wear g fives anymore. I was I got to use the new applicator over a year ago. And I they call me a sensor snob. I won't I won't wear the old stuff anymore. I've been wearing experimental stuff now for over a year. And it's awesome.
Scott Benner 22:59
Yeah, I think I get that has there been? You know,
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 23:05
I've seen like Bluetooth drops between my daughter's trans through a transmitter and our phone and not not a lot. But it happens, right, you'll walk away, it goes away and sometimes doesn't come back as quick. Is any of that different in the JSX. Most of the communication protocol is the same. We didn't I am getting a little technical on the Bluetooth side. So I'm not quite sure where it is with the current chip. But here's what I can tell you. We have new electronics for next generation transmitter coming that appear to have what you know less of those issues on Bluetooth is something that we evaluate regularly. And it's interesting that we all say we want to go to the phones with our devices. And if I've had one learning here at Dexcom, it's what it really means to go to the phone. All iPhones aren't the same. All Android phones aren't the same. Even all iPhones with the same iOS version don't behave the same way. And that's integrated is really led to a level of complexity our business that we did not anticipate when we started down the path. I say one of our key focuses in future engineering is better Bluetooth connectivity and more consistent communication. And I think we've got some real good ideas coming in the future on that front. This one I believe is is the same, you know, we do have the backfill feature if you walk away for 20 or 30 minutes and you come back it does backfill Oh yeah.
Scott Benner 24:37
there Yeah.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 24:38
So that that's been good, but I you know, I there's just a lot of things about Bluetooth that you don't really understand until you put it into practical use. And it has been a great learning for our company. And and hopefully, we'll continue to do better for our patients and we will
Scott Benner 24:57
listen Can I go to cut up my lawn headphones on their noise canceling their Bluetooth, I put my phone in my left pocket, it doesn't work I put in my right pocket does work. Trust me, that doesn't make any sense. But I have gone through it enough times now to know that it's a Bluetooth, it's a limitation of Bluetooth one way or the other. It's just it just is what it is. Some quick questions for you. And then I'm going to ask some more specific stuff is that he's the same on the G six as it is on the G five.
Unknown Speaker 25:22
It is for today. Yes.
Scott Benner 25:24
Okay. So that's still something you're working on?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 25:27
Yep. And and I would tell you again, I'm answering this. I've answered this question a couple times, too. If I got a room and a group of users in the room and asked about it, he said, I get three answers. Answer one, make it more sticky answer to make it hypoallergenic, and answer three, make it less sticky. And I'd love to be able to fix all three of those things at the same time. For right now, the adhesive is something we'll work on more going forward, we needed to get this platform out and out to patients. And that will start addressing some of the the other things after the fact. And you'll see some innovations along those lines over the next couple years from us that really enhanced this experience. And adhesive is one of the things we're testing and working on as we speak. Well,
Scott Benner 26:15
listen, I was I was thinking 15 minutes before you and I jumped on. I tried to be like thoughtful about it. Like, it's, I'm excited that things get better. Like in my mind, innovation takes you know, research, it takes development takes money, you have to have those 300 people you're talking about are bright people. They need to be compensated. And you know, I always kind of correlate it to my wife, my wife does this amazing work. And she's such a bright person who comes through every day. But if somebody didn't compensate her, Well, she'd go do it somewhere else. And so you guys are building from the ground up like this, this, you know, this machine really, and and on top of it, you've got to you've got to build employees and infrastructure and and keep moving forward and keep up and stay. You know, it's just it's a lot going on. I I always wonder if if, if people take the time to stop and think about like, what happens if a company like Dexcom just doesn't
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 27:11
know, I let me give you to give you three examples. I'm sorry to talk a little much. But we realized Tuesday afternoon, that it was 12 years to the day that we got approval for our first three day system 12 years ago to the day. And two of the guys who got that approval were in the room with me when we realized that
Scott Benner 27:35
it's gotta be overwhelming. Honestly, again, only two people were left over after 12
Unknown Speaker 27:40
years, more than two
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 27:42
years in the room, two of my senior people, our head of r&d, Jake Leach and our our VP of regulatory strategy and clinical affairs, Andy bayla. We're both here then. And remember that three day system and how far we've come. But we had and I came here in 2011. Got we had, I don't know 400 employees, we're almost we're almost at 2500 FTS right now. And and several hundred temps in our manufacturing processes. It's it's really different. It's hard. And it is an infrastructure to keep up with and to keep moving. And there are days when all of the folks who were here when we had 50, people would like to go back to the days of 50 people and their days when those who come from big companies with 10s of thousands of people would say we want more structure. Yeah. So it's a balancing act all the time. But the goal, the nice thing about Dexcom as the goal is always the same. We do one thing we make continuous glucose monitoring technology. And to improve that and get it and an innovation like just went out the door is it's really monumental for us and everybody here is is thrilled, but there's there's no no pencils down here are no fingers off the keyboard or whatever. Everybody is busy. Now that we've got to make this launch very successful.
Scott Benner 29:00
Yeah, and you listen, you've heard it from me. And you've heard it from everybody I would imagine millions of times but the things that I accomplished with my daughter's blood sugar with an A one c that has now been between five, six and six, two for four years plus four plus years. Now spectacular in Chinese food last night. She's in a restaurant right now having a waffle with my wife, you know that all this stuff, everything I do everything that we talked about on this podcast on days when you're not on talking about your stuff, or that's it. It's all based around the things that I've seen done and learned because of the Dexcom there's there's no way around it. It's that coupled with a with the her on the pod insulin pump where I can make these fine adjustments without these two devices. I'm back to a router. My daughter's a once he was eight and a half and I was killing myself to get eight and a half. And so I can tell you that in most days of our lives, we don't even really talk about diabetes that much around here. It takes up such a small portion of our day. Because of because of the work you guys are doing out there. And And not only that, by the way, but Arden comes home from school today right before you and I talk and the kits there for the demo, and I said, Oh, hey, take a look. she flips it open. And and I said, Hey, I hear the applicators. Like it just makes it like really easy. And you know, bump him nearly painless, better than this now, and she already doesn't complain about it now. And I'm showing you the flat trans, she doesn't care. She didn't care about the transmission. She said about the applicator. She goes, is it going to be easier. And I went Yeah, she was good. She picks up the the receiver which she doesn't use, she goes, this thing's really cool. And I realized it was because she's more technically based. She's a kid, like she saw the electronic II thing. And she was like, This is cool. And then Kevin, she just walked away from it. My daughter doesn't even really think of herself as having diabetes most days. And, and I can't tell you that she used to, like she used to be burdened by it, she would cry and wonder when it was going to go away. And I haven't had a conversation with her like that in years. She's like sleep over, she just made plans to go to California with a friend who doesn't know anything about diabetes, I think nothing of it plays competitive softball day long, doesn't matter. It just it it pulled our butt out of the fire the other day when she, you know, went to bed after a long day of softball, and I was positive she was going to be okay. But her blood sugar started to fall. And, you know, we were indicating it to us. We took care of it. I was able to treat the low without creating a high afterwards. I just I can't tell you I'd walk all the way out there and Huggy if I could, you know, I mean, it really is it is spectacular. And I and I know there are growing pains and other people are going to hear the 10 day, you know thing and they're going to get mad, and it might be a financial issue for them. And I even understand that.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 31:45
I look I do too. And and I would love to, you know our goal. As I said, as I've said numerous times today one of our goals is take cost out of our device in our platform, and pass those cost improvements on to our patients over time. And I think that we'll be able to do that that the 10 day shut off from a performance standpoint, with no calibrations is extremely important. And I'll get back to what we've heard from patients we've heard, we don't want to calibrate for a very, very long time loud and clear. So by offering that feature from a scientific perspective, we kind of had to make we had to make that trade off. And I think I think patients will get there and then we'll work on the financial terms over time at one of our goals is to increase access to CGM. That's one of your goals and your podcast we know are well known We are the more access increases, the more people have access to it. I mean, it's taken us over a year to work through all the bugs with Medicare. But now Medicare patients are getting CGM on a regular basis. And that community is very happy with what they now know and what they have for their disease with so we we got that access. It's taken a while to work the bugs out. But those patients have a good experience and their economic model is one that's that's livable, a little bit different. I it's more of a subscription type model and and maybe things move in that direction. And it's easier for patients and but I understand the the problems. I mean, health insurance is tough. It really is.
Scott Benner 33:18
Okay, guys, so you know, Dexcom is sponsoring the podcast, so they get an ad, right? But this whole episodes basically telling you go get it Dexcom g sex, it's coming soon. By the way Kevin is going to tell you about when it's coming. They don't have an exact date, but he'll give me an about when it's coming at the end of the podcast. You might be saying to me right now Scott, why would I go to your link dexcom.com forward slash juice box or like in your show notes and get an Dexcom g five when I want this G six s g six sounds like the bomb diggity, I hear what you're saying. But guess what, you're not gonna get stuck with a G five, there's gonna be upgrade programs. Kevin couldn't give exact details about them. But I think you're gonna find them to be generous. In the end, there's really no reason to wait. If you listen to this podcast, you know, the amazing things that we accomplished with blood sugars, and a onesies because of the Dexcom technology. You want to get going right now. I mean, Kevin's gonna tell you later when you know when the G six comes out, and maybe it's not going to be for a few months. But why would you give up months, a fantastic there's no reason to and they don't want you to so they're going to make it so that you don't have to. So go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box right now get started with Dexcom right away and they will transition you nice and smooth into the G six series again that show no click on that link dexcom.com forward slash juice box. It's also at Juicebox podcast.com. Before I get you back to Kevin let me just say this if you just here today for the Dexcom news, subscribe give the podcast a try. It's free. Juicebox Podcast is available on Apple podcasts, iTunes, Spotify iHeartRadio or wherever podcasts are found. You're saying there's no calibration but when might I want Want to test? I mean, are there gonna be times where because right now I've said this to you before I'm not embarrassed. I absolutely trusted Dexcom right up until I don't. And I base that on my experiences of the day like looking at a line sometimes, like a graph line stays too flat too long I get a little weary of and maybe I check then or, like, you know what I mean? Like we're about to have a big meal with a ton of carbs, I'm gonna make this giant bolus, I'll sometimes test to make sure that I'm, I'm where I think I am. But is that just literally not going to exist anymore? Or is there still going to be moments where I'm gonna want to
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 35:30
it? You know, the way the system is labeled? You're tested if your symptoms do not match the reading on the seat on the CGM. I believe that's in our literature. I said it was what g five. And so I will leave that up to you as far as when you test but you know, it's labeled, you can use it from the word go without any calibrations and or without testing. And you'll just have to run that experience on your own. And
Scott Benner 35:58
it's And so much of it really is like that. There's no at the moment in diabetes, there's just no one size fits all lightswitch answer for anything you have to you have to learn about it and figure out how to use this stuff best for yourself. I completely on
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 36:12
that. That's why we left this, this option in there, that and the fact that we'll be integrated with insulin pumps who are are probably possibly going to want a calibrations in their automated insulin delivery systems to make sure that those things behave properly, and and deliver the best outcomes for patients. So we didn't leave that feature in there. And we'll see if if people want it. Or if they don't I? I said yeah, I have not calibrated any of that I've worn I'll just leave it at that. Okay,
Scott Benner 36:43
um, Apple three, can I use the G six with the watch without the phone?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 36:48
Not yet. Now, we have to make a couple of electronic configuration changes, we're working on those. And that will come it's not quite there. But we will get there. And we're excited for that to transmitter still last 90 days, that transmitter still a 90 day use? Yes.
Scott Benner 37:04
Right. So all right, how you know what, how about, um, I don't know a ton about this, but people I got questions from people integration with the T slim x two. And just other companies, I guess that you have, you know, I guess, on the pods doing their, their horizon is with Dexcom, that kind of stuff.
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 37:21
And an omni pod is gonna do their horizon with G six. So that will be integrated into that, with respect to tan and peaceful MX two, I believe right now, it's labeled for G five. And I believe they're predictable glucose suspendable come out at a G five product. The beauty of the tandem diesel MX two though is you can upgrade the software in that pump. So if somebody purchases that system and wants to get their own delivery device, based on the ability to work with Dexcom, when g six comes in, when tandem goes through the proper regulatory processes, you can upgrade your pump, you know, via cable and plug it into your computer, or through Bluetooth. I don't know how they connect, and you can then go to G six without having to buy a new pump. Oh, it's beautiful. Well, tandem has a really nice feature there with that and and hopefully when you know when input is ready to go, we'll be in the same place with them that these things will be upgradable as our technology continues to move on, is G six right away with Medicare Medicaid, or do you have to do something with no, we have to do some contracting. And same with the other payers. There's some payers where it flips right over there others work we have to go negotiate new contracts. And we will have to file a new agreement with Medicare and certainly probably most of the Medicaid programs. And we'll be working you can't do it till you get a device approved. Sure all those efforts will kick up shortly. Well, it's
Scott Benner 38:43
funny, there's obviously there's behind the scenes stuff when you're talking about the pumps just now and you said bow on the pod using g six. And then I think back to you saying you've been wearing g six for the last year I think oh on the pop probably had that while they're using there. I see there's stuff going on we don't know about. And let me ask you this, with no calibration coming up. And now it's here. And now you expected to get better and better. Is there a concern or world where I should be worried that if I have a G six that I won't be able to get test trips through my insurance? Well, they say but you have that? Have you guys talked about that at all?
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 39:16
I you know we haven't and I have not had that discussion with with anybody. That's an interesting question. We've always said it's our long term goal to make CGM, the standard of care for diabetes and eliminate fingerstick. So I guess our challenge is to make the device good enough. You'll never have to get them. Yeah,
Scott Benner 39:34
I think that's right. That's excellent. Okay, so let's talk about timelines. We're coming up on the amount of time I promised you. So. Now, what I've been told is, and this is very cool, because of the, you know, because of the warrior program, I guess is that Arden's going to get a G six as soon as they're available to the public at the very beginning, which we're very excited about. But when is that? Do you have any timelines at all our hopes? Well, we
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 39:58
said that we would launch later in the second Quarter, the full launch. And so that's our timeframe right now I really can't give a firm date now. Before the end of q2, we'll start shipping to people. Okay, and we would expect certainly for the last half of the year it's g six all the way I say
Scott Benner 40:17
yeah, I don't imagine that you guys have been sitting around not paying attention to
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 40:22
me Just let me say one other thing. We're gonna make it right with people. So you know, if you're on G five right now and need a new transmitter, we're not going to leave you hanging. When it comes to the G six g six, we will have G six upgrade programs in place okay. And we'll work with new patients and with existing patients, we don't want people who do not get new g five product for fear that their dollars are going to run out we will have some very good upgrade programs for patients to make sure that they they can do what they what they need to do. Okay.
Scott Benner 40:54
It'd be hated actual receiver right now, if I haven't received right now with G five. When you upgrade me to G six, do I get a new receivers same receiver still work with it, the old receiver will not work with G six,
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 41:05
there's the new receiver we launched for G five earlier. And back in 2017. That receiver can be upgraded via software update as well. And so it can be used with G six, it can be switched over. Oh, great. Okay,
Scott Benner 41:22
well, listen, I I'm not reading between the lines, you just said it like nobody's gonna get left out an island with old gear they don't want or stuck reaching, I
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 41:30
need to be careful. We're not we're not also not accepting. You know, I'm not opening the door for returns or anything. I'm just saying with the three month transmitter right, the
Unknown Speaker 41:37
next time you
Kevin Sayer, Dexcom CEO 41:38
come in, we we will and our programs will be posted on the web. As soon as we iron everything out, you guys will see. We've been very good historically about taking care of patients and making sure there's an upgrade path for in warranty patients and we do our best for out of warranty patients as well, that culture and that attitude won't change. Good.
Scott Benner 41:57
Yeah. And you've all you guys have also done a great job about getting to market faster than I've ever expected. But everything you guys have ever given us has come before I expected it to come
Unknown Speaker 42:08
well knock on wood.
Scott Benner 42:12
See how we do Don't let me down Kevin? Did I not bring up anything that you that you have on your I feel like we think we've covered I think we've covered about everything we could cover I did. So I really appreciate you doing this. And I can't wait to get the stuff in and be able to hold it and start telling people about how well it works.
Unknown Speaker 42:30
All right. Thanks for your time due to Kevin Have a great day. Bye bye.
Scott Benner 42:36
Hey, thanks so much, Kevin for coming on. Tell us about the new g six. Congratulations on the FDA approval. If you're new to the podcast, subscribe stick around. Listen, you can listen to Apple podcasts, Spotify iHeartRadio or any honestly any podcast app whichever one you love, use overcast, listening overcast. What do I carry? Listen doesn't matter to me. Hit subscribe, check us out. So a lot of great stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks. And there are 157 amazing episodes before this one. Give it a try. Be bold with insulin if you don't know what that means, find out thank you so much to Dexcom and Omni pod for sponsoring the program. Your continued loyalty humbles me. This was a bonus episode this week so there'll be another one on Tuesday. If you're enjoying the Juicebox Podcast, please leave a rating and review on iTunes. Last thing the podcast continues to grow. This is one of our best months in the history of the show. That is in large part due to you guys sharing so thank you very much for telling others about the Juicebox Podcast Please don't stop telephone
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