Senseonics, the maker of the Eversense 90-day implantable continuous glucose monitor (CGM), has halted all new sales and marketing efforts.
The Eversense appears to be another unfortunate casualty of the COVD-19 pandemic. Eversense sensors are inserted under the skin by a trained doctor, and with most non-essential clinic visits canceled in the US and elsewhere, it must be difficult to imagine any new customers adopting the system in the near term. The financial devastation wrought by the pandemic couldn’t help either; the new system was not yet covered universally by insurance providers.
Stressing that existing customers will continue to receive support, Senseonics “regretfully” announced that they had laid off the majority of their US sales and clinical organization workforce. The change is explained in an open letter written by Tim Goodnow, President & CEO, published on the Eversense website landing page:
To ensure continuity of care for our existing customers, we are reducing commercialization expenditures to focus our resources solely on existing customers. This will mean stopping sales and marketing efforts to acquire new Eversense users in the US. No new patients or clinics will be initiated. Only people currently using Eversense and those whose sensor has shipped will be inserted, as insurance allows.
The Eversense system had generated considerable excitement in the diabetes community, including some early rave reviews for accuracy and convenience. The appeal of an implantable CGM system is easy to understand. The Eversense system eliminates the frequent self-administered sensor insertions required by other CGMs, and the transmitter can be removed, recharged and replaced without fuss.
The 90-day system won FDA approval in 2018, and the company is currently engaged in clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of a 180-day version. Now we can only guess as to the future of the new system. Goodnow’s letter asserts that “the company remains committed to the development and submission to the FDA of the US Eversense® XL product (up to 180 days),” and that this next generation product will receive a renewed focus. Nevertheless, it may be difficult to be optimistic about the business’ future, given such a dramatic downturn in their immediate fortunes.
