PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
Insulet Corporation (“we” or the “Company”) is primarily engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of its proprietary Omnipod® System, a continuous insulin delivery system for people with insulin-dependent diabetes, which we have been selling since 2005. The Omnipod System includes: the Omnipod Insulin Management System (“Omnipod”) and the Omnipod DASHTM Insulin Management System (“Omnipod DASH” or “DASH”), our digital mobile Omnipod platform. In addition to the diabetes market space, we have partnered with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to tailor the Omnipod System technology platform for the delivery of subcutaneous drugs across other therapeutic areas. Most of our drug delivery revenue consists of sales of pods to Amgen for use in the Neulasta® Onpro® kit, a delivery system for Amgen’s white blood cell booster to help reduce the risk of infection after intense chemotherapy.
Market Opportunity: Management of Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic, life-threatening disease for which there is no known cure. It is caused by the body’s inability to produce or effectively utilize the hormone insulin, which prevents the body from adequately regulating blood glucose levels. Glucose, the primary source of energy for cells, must be maintained at certain concentrations in the blood in order to permit optimal cell function and health. In people with diabetes, blood glucose levels fluctuate between very high levels, a condition known as hyperglycemia, and very low levels, a condition called hypoglycemia. Hyperglycemia can lead to serious short-term complications, such as confusion, vomiting, dehydration and loss of consciousness and long-term complications, such as blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease, occlusive vascular diseases, stroke and cardiovascular disease, or death. Hypoglycemia can lead to confusion, loss of consciousness or death.
Diabetes is typically classified as either Type 1 or Type 2:
•Type 1 diabetes is characterized by the body’s nearly complete inability to produce insulin. It is frequently diagnosed during childhood or adolescence. Individuals with Type 1 diabetes require daily insulin therapy to survive. We estimate that four to four and a half million people have Type 1 diabetes in the countries we currently serve.
•Type 2 diabetes, the more common form, is characterized by the body’s inability to either properly utilize insulin or produce enough insulin. Historically, Type 2 diabetes has occurred in later adulthood, but its incidence is increasing among the younger population, due primarily to increasing obesity. Initially, many people with Type 2 diabetes attempt to manage their diabetes with improvements in diet, exercise and/or oral medications. As their diabetes advances, some individuals progress to multiple drug therapies, which often include insulin therapy. We estimate that approximately seven to seven and a half million people have Type 2 diabetes in the countries we currently serve.
We estimate that approximately one-third of the Type 1 diabetes population in the United States and even less of the Type 1 diabetes population outside the United States use insulin pump therapy. An even smaller portion of the Type 2 diabetes population in and outside of the United States who are insulin-dependent use insulin pump therapy. We believe these factors present a significant available market for the Omnipod System globally.
Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we refer to both Type 1 diabetes and insulin-requiring Type 2 diabetes as insulin-dependent diabetes.
Diabetes Management Challenges
Diabetes is often frustrating and difficult for people to manage. Blood glucose levels can be affected by the carbohydrate and fat content of meals, exercise, stress, illness or impending illness, hormonal releases, variability in insulin absorption and changes in the effects of insulin on the body. For people with insulin-dependent diabetes, many corrections, consisting of the administration of additional insulin or ingestion of additional carbohydrates, are needed throughout the day in order to maintain blood glucose levels within normal ranges. Achieving this result can be very difficult without multiple daily injections of insulin or insulin pump therapy. Individuals with diabetes attempting to control their blood glucose levels tightly to prevent the long-term complications associated with fluctuations in blood glucose levels are at greater risk for overcorrection and the resultant hypoglycemia. As a result, many people have difficulty managing their diabetes. Additionally, the time spent managing fluctuations in blood glucose levels and the fear associated with hypoglycemia can be incredibly stressful for individuals with diabetes and their families.
Current Insulin Therapy
People with insulin-dependent diabetes need a continuous supply of insulin, known as basal insulin, to provide for background metabolic needs. In addition to basal insulin, people with insulin-dependent diabetes require supplemental insulin, known as bolus insulin, to compensate for carbohydrates ingested during meals or snacks or for a high blood glucose level. There are two
primary types of insulin therapy practiced today: multiple daily injections (“MDI”) therapy using syringes or insulin pens and pump therapy using insulin pumps.
MDI therapy involves the administration of fast-acting insulin before meals (bolus) to lower blood glucose levels to a healthy range. MDI therapy may also require a separate injection of a long-acting (basal) insulin, to control glucose levels between meals; typically, once or twice per day. By comparison, insulin pump therapy uses only fast-acting insulin to fulfill both mealtime (bolus) and background (basal) requirements. Insulin pump therapy allows individuals to customize their bolus and basal insulin doses to meet their insulin needs throughout the day and is intended to more closely resemble the physiologic function of a healthy pancreas.
Insulin pumps are used to perform continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and typically use a programmable device and an infusion set to administer insulin into the person’s body. Insulin pump therapy has been shown to provide numerous advantages relative to MDI therapy. For example, insulin pump therapy eliminates individual insulin injections (approximately five per day), delivers insulin more accurately and precisely than injections, often improves HbA1c (a common measure of blood glucose levels) over time, provides greater flexibility with meals, exercise and daily schedules, and can reduce severe low blood glucose levels. We believe that these advantages, along with technological advancements and increased awareness of insulin pump therapy will continue to generate demand for insulin pump devices.
Our Solution: The Omnipod System
The Omnipod System is a continuous insulin delivery system that provides all the benefits of insulin pump therapy in a unique way. We believe the Omnipod System’s innovative proprietary design and differentiated features allow people with insulin-dependent diabetes to live their lives and manage their diabetes, with unprecedented freedom, comfort, convenience and ease.
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Pod
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Omnipod PDM
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Omnipod DASH PDM
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The Omnipod System features two discreet and easy-to-use devices that eliminates the need for the external tubing required with conventional pumps:
•a small, lightweight, self-adhesive disposable tubeless Omnipod device (“Pod”) that the user fills with insulin and wears directly on the body. It can be worn in multiple locations, including the abdomen, hip, back of upper arm, upper thigh or lower back. The Pod delivers precise, personalized doses of insulin into the body through a small flexible tube (called a cannula); and
•the Personal Diabetes Manager (“PDM”), a wireless, handheld device that programs the Pod with the user’s personalized insulin-delivery instructions and, wirelessly monitors the Pod’s operation.
Omnipod DASH, launched in the United States in 2019 and in 2020 in our international markets, features a secure Bluetooth enabled Pod and PDM with a color touch screen user interface supported by smartphone connectivity. In addition, the updated release launched in June 2020 features an option to choose Spanish language, nightly automatic data uploads providing users and their clinicians with cloud access to data, and the ability for us to push software updates wirelessly to users.
The Omnipod System provides continuous insulin delivery at preset rates, eliminating the need for individual insulin injections. In addition, insulin delivery can be changed with the press of a button to adapt to snacks or unexpected changes in daily routine.
The Omnipod System works like the pancreas of a person without diabetes by delivering insulin in two ways:
•A small, constant background supply of insulin is delivered automatically at a programmed rate, all day and night.
•An extra dose of insulin can be delivered when needed to match the carbohydrates in a snack or meal to correct high blood glucose.
We have designed the Omnipod System to fit within the normal daily routines of users. The Omnipod System communicates wirelessly, provides for virtually pain-free automated cannula insertion and eliminates the need for traditional MDI therapy or the use of traditional pump and tubing. It can be worn for up to three days at a time and, because it is waterproof, there is no need to remove it when showering, swimming or performing other activities. The Omnipod System consists of just two devices as opposed to up to seven for conventional tubed insulin pumps. As a result, the Omnipod System is easy to use, which reduces the training burden on healthcare professionals and end-users. We believe that the Omnipod System’s overall ease of use, flexibility and substantially lower training burden make it very attractive to people with insulin-dependent diabetes and allows healthcare professionals to prescribe pump therapy to a broader group of people with diabetes.
The Omnipod System’s unique patented design and proprietary manufacturing process allow us to provide pump therapy at a relatively low or no up-front investment, which reduces the risk to third-party payors in the U.S., compared to conventional tubed insulin pumps.
Several publications over the past decade have found that compared to MDI therapy, the use of the Omnipod System by individuals with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes across all age groups is associated with good glycemic control and reduced frequency and severity of hypoglycemic episodes. These results are consistent with published literature of other continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion devices. In addition, research in adults with Type 1 diabetes has found that compared to prior treatment modality, the use of the Omnipod System is associated with improved quality of life. We believe that this data is clinically meaningful to healthcare providers and provides support for the use of the Omnipod System in the treatment of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
We have partnered with Glooko Inc. (“Glooko”) to connect our Omnipod System user data with Glooko’s comprehensive diabetes data management system (including Glooko and Diasend in selected regions). Glooko provides a cloud-based application for clinicians and users accessible through a kiosk, home computer or a mobile application on the user’s smartphone that provides users and their health care providers access to insulin delivery trends, blood glucose levels and other integrated data.
Third-Party Reimbursement
In the United States, our products are sold directly to wholesalers, private healthcare organizations, healthcare facilities, mail order pharmacies and independent retailers. These entities, and the Company in some cases, seek reimbursement from health insurance companies and/or government administrative payors. The Omnipod System is also marketed and sold through distributors, as well as marketed to physicians and consumers. Our products are subject to regulatory changes and competition in technological innovation, price, convenience of use, service and product performance. In the United States, consumers generally have commercial insurance, Medicare or Medicaid coverage that pays for the product. In certain non-U.S. locations in which we sell through a distributor or intermediary, our distribution partners and local intermediaries establish appropriate reimbursement contracts with healthcare systems in those countries and provinces.
Markets and Distribution Methods
The Omnipod System is currently available in the United States, Canada and in certain countries in Europe and the Middle East. We sell the Omnipod System directly to consumers, through distribution partners and in the U.S. also through the pharmacy channel. For the year ended December 31, 2020, approximately 70% of our Omnipod System sales were through intermediaries.
Revenue for customers comprising 10% or more of total revenue was as follows:
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Years Ended December 31,
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2020
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2019
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2018
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Anda, Inc.
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11%
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*
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*
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Cardinal Health Inc. and affiliates
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10%
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11%
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12%
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Amgen, Inc.
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*
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*
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12%
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* Represents less than 10% of revenue for the period.
Our sales and marketing efforts are focused on customer retention and growing user, clinician and payor demand for the Omnipod System. We have a uniform sales and marketing approach, aligned across users, physicians and providers, to capitalize on the unique benefits of our Omnipod System technology. We have three areas of focus:
•Build consumer awareness about the features and benefits that the Omnipod System provides.
•Build physician support by increasing the clinical evidence that demonstrates the benefits that the Omnipod System provides and improving the monitoring data available to physicians providing diabetes care.
•Provide payors with the clinical and economic justification for why the Omnipod System provides a unique value to the people whom they insure.
Training
We believe that training consumers how to use the Omnipod System is an important factor to promote successful outcomes and customer retention. We have streamlined and standardized our training by developing improved online resources and increased our field clinician team to directly train new Omnipod System users. With the launch of Omnipod DASH, we created an online training program for Omnipod DASH customers transitioning from Omnipod. In addition, due to the challenges COVID-19 has presented, we have also been using virtual training to onboard new Omnipod customers transitioning from MDI. Our virtual capabilities have allowed us to continue to onboard new customers despite COVID-19 and in a cost-effective manner. Our distributors and intermediaries have also implemented virtual training programs.
Customer Support
We seek to provide our customers with high quality customer support, from product ordering to insurance investigation, order fulfillment and ongoing support. We have integrated our customer support systems with our sales, reimbursement and billing processes and offer support by telephone and through our website to provide customers with seamless and reliable support.
Competition
The diabetes medical device market is highly competitive, subject to rapid change and significantly affected by new product introductions. The Omnipod System competes for consumers in the insulin delivery market. Because most new Omnipod System end-users come from MDI therapy, which currently is the most prevalent method of insulin delivery, we believe that we primarily compete with companies that provide products and supplies for MDI therapy. To a lesser extent, we also compete with companies in the insulin pump market, which today consists of conventional tubed pump companies, including Medtronic MiniMed, a division of Medtronic public limited company (“Medtronic”), and Tandem Diabetes Care Inc. (“Tandem”). In addition, we compete with Roche Holdings Ltd. (“Roche”) and The Ypsomed Group (“Ypsomed”) outside the United States. Medtronic historically has held the majority share of the conventional tubed insulin pump market in the United States. The competitive landscape in our industry continues to undergo significant change. In addition to the established insulin pump competitors, several companies are working to develop and market new insulin pumps and smart pens. These companies are at various stages of development and the number of such companies often changes as they enter or exit the market. Our non-insulin drug delivery product line competes with drug delivery device companies such as West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.
Research and Development
Our research and development efforts are primarily focused on making improvements to the Omnipod System, including adding features and functionality that will deliver economic value, convenience and simplicity to users.
Omnipod 5, powered by HorizonTM Automated Insulin Delivery System (“Omnipod 5”)
We are developing an automated insulin delivery (“AID”) system that utilizes the DASH mobile platform to allow the Pod, our automated insulin delivery algorithm located on the Pod and the glucose sensor values obtained directly from a third party’s continuous glucose monitor (“CGM”) to predict glucose levels into the future and automatically adjust the insulin dose required
to help reduce the occurrence of blood glucose highs and lows. We plan to launch Omnipod 5 with a CGM manufactured by Dexcom, Inc. and compatibility with the Android platform. In addition, we have signed a development agreement to integrate Abbott Diabetes Care, Inc.’s CGM in the future and are also working on developing compatibility with iOS. Omnipod 5 is intended to be controllable through a secure mobile app on the user’s smartphone (i.e. “phone control”). We completed the first phase of our Omnipod 5 pivotal trial in October 2020. We also recently completed our Omnipod 5 clinical study of pediatric users ages two to six years old and are planning for an expanded indication by the end of 2021. In addition, we have begun enrolling individuals with Type 2 diabetes in an Omnipod 5 feasibility study. Based on the results of the feasibility work, we plan to conduct additional studies with the goal of expanding Omnipod 5’s indications. Omnipod 5 was granted designation in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) breakthrough device program, which is a program intended to help people have more timely access to certain medical devices and device-led combination products that provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions by expediting the development and review process. We believe that recent and ongoing developments in the use of CGM technology and AID algorithms in conjunction with insulin pump therapy will continue to provide people with insulin-dependent diabetes benefits that will make insulin pump therapy an even more attractive treatment alternative to existing MDI therapy.
Paramount to our ability to deliver phone control is our commitment to cyber and information security. Omnipod DASH is the first FDA-cleared insulin pump certified under the Diabetes Technology Society’s “Standard for Wireless Diabetes Device Security” cybersecurity assurance standard and program, known as DTSec. This certification is a cybersecurity standard intended to raise confidence in the security of network connected medical devices through independent expert evaluation. In addition, Omnipod DASH is International Standards Organization (“ISO”) 27001 certified, which is the international standard for best practice in an information security management system globally. With the DTSec and ISO 27001 certifications, Omnipod DASH is globally recognized for incorporating the highest standards for cyber and information security and safety, including secure data transfer between the Pod and PDM, as well as secure cloud storage.
In addition to our focus on Omnipod 5, we are also working on innovation programs designed to drive:
•simplicity of user interaction with our systems;
•improved outcomes through algorithm advancements;
•insights and value from our growing datasets and analytics; and
•user choice of sensor and smartphone integrations.
Manufacturing and Quality Assurance
We believe a key contributing factor to the overall attractiveness and success of the Omnipod System is the disposable nature of the Pod. In order to manufacture sufficient volumes and achieve a cost-effective per unit production price for the Omnipod, we have designed the Omnipod System to be manufactured through automation.
In 2019, we began producing product at our highly automated manufacturing facility in Acton, Massachusetts and in 2020, we began producing on our second line in this facility. We completed the installation our third U.S. manufacturing line and expect to produce sellable product on this line in 2021. Our Acton facility has the capacity to house up to four lines. In addition to increasing supply redundancy and adding capacity closer to our North American customer base to support the growth of our business, we expect that once the Acton facility is fully utilized, the highly automated assembly process will be able to produce a globally cost competitive product.
In addition, we continue to produce our devices on varying degrees of semi-automated manufacturing lines at a facility in China operated by a contract manufacturer. In 2020, we invested in another contract manufacturer in China allowing us to leverage our local supplier base. These contract manufacturing agreements expire in December 2022 and October 2021, respectively, and are subject to automatic renewal, unless canceled by the parties under the terms of the contracts.
We also continue to invest in supply chain efficiencies, including automation improvements at our suppliers and contract manufacturer.
Raw Materials
We use a broad range of raw materials in the assembly and manufacturing of the Omnipod System. We purchase all our raw materials and select components used in the manufacturing of our products from external suppliers. We purchase some supplies from a single or limited number of sources for reasons of proprietary know-how, quality assurance, cost-effectiveness, or constraints resulting from regulatory requirements. We rely on a limited number of suppliers for certain of the components and sub-assemblies used in the manufacture of the Omnipod System, including application-specific integrated circuit chips, Bluetooth low-energy chips and other specialized parts. The design of certain of these components and sub-assemblies (including, in some instances, the raw materials used to manufacture them) is proprietary and the intellectual property rights
may be owned exclusively by one party. In such cases, we are sole sourced with the supplier controlling the intellectual property rights. These sole sourced components are critical to the design and functionality of the Omnipod System. In the case of sole sourced parts, we manage risk through holding inventory ourselves and at the supplier to ensure continuity of supply and low risk of disruption. We purchase other components and sub-assemblies from manufacturers with whom we are at least dual sourced. We work closely with all suppliers to ensure continuity of supply while maintaining high quality and reliability.
Quality Assurance
We utilize outside vendors for the supply of components, sub-assemblies and various services used in the manufacture of the Omnipod System. Our outside vendors produce the components to our specifications, and they are audited periodically by our Quality Assurance Department to confirm conformity with the specifications, policies and procedures for the Omnipod System. Our Quality Assurance Department also inspects and tests the Omnipod System at various steps in the manufacturing cycle to facilitate compliance with our specifications. We have received approval of our Quality Management System from BSI Group, an accredited Notified Body for CE Marking, and from ISO. Processes utilized in the manufacture, test and release of the Omnipod System have been verified and validated as required by the FDA and other regulatory bodies. As a medical device manufacturer and distributor, our manufacturing facilities and the facilities of our suppliers are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA, certain corresponding state agencies, and other regulatory bodies.
Intellectual Property
To maintain a competitive advantage, we believe we must develop and preserve the proprietary aspect of our technologies. We rely on a combination of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws, non-disclosure agreements and other measures to protect our proprietary rights. We require our employees, consultants and advisers to execute non-disclosure agreements in connection with their employment, consulting or advisory relationships with us, where appropriate. We also require employees, consultants and advisers who work on our products to agree to disclose and assign to us all inventions conceived during their work with us that are developed using our property or relate to our business. Despite measures taken to protect our intellectual property, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy aspects of the Omnipod System or obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary.
Patents
As of December 31, 2020, we had over 250 patents in the United States and in certain other countries, with expiration dates ranging from 2021 through 2042, and had over 130 patent applications pending. The issued patents and pending patent applications cover, among other things:
•the basic architecture of the Omnipod System, including the pump and the PDM;
•the Omnipod shape memory alloy drive system;
•the Omnipod System cannula insertion system;
•communication features between system components for the Omnipod System and next generation products;
•software, such as apps, for controlling the Omnipod System and next generation products; and
•various novel aspects of the Omnipod System, potential future generations of Omnipod Systems, and other mechanisms for the delivery of pharmaceuticals.
Trademarks
We have registered various trademarks associated with our business with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the Principal Register and in other appropriate jurisdictions. Our trademarks include INSULETTM, OMNIPOD®, OMNIPOD® 5 Automated Insulin Delivery System, SIMPLIFY LIFETM, Omnipod DASH®, Omnipod CONTROLTM, Omnipod DISPLAY®, Omnipod VIEW®, OMNIPOD U-200TM, OMNIPOD U-500TM, Pod Pals® and PodderTM.
Government Regulation
United States FDA Regulation
The Omnipod System is a medical device subject to extensive and ongoing regulation by the FDA and other federal, state, and local regulatory bodies. FDA regulations govern, among other things, product design and development, preclinical and clinical testing, pre-market clearance or approval, manufacturing, labeling, product storage, advertising and promotion, sales and distribution, post-market adverse event reporting, post-market surveillance, complaint handling, repair or recall of products, and record keeping.
Unless an exemption applies, each medical device we seek to commercially distribute in the United States will require either prior 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval (“PMA”) from the FDA. Both the 510(k) clearance and PMA processes can be expensive and lengthy and entail significant user fees. We have obtained 510(k) clearance for the Omnipod and Omnipod DASH Systems and expect that regulatory approval will be needed for some of our future products. In addition, we may be required to obtain a new 510(k) clearance or pre-market approval for significant post-market modifications to our products.
510(k) Clearance. To obtain 510(k) clearance for any of our potential future devices (or for certain modifications to devices that have previously received 510(k) clearance), we must submit a pre-market notification demonstrating that the proposed device is substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device. The FDA’s 510(k) clearance pathway generally takes three to twelve months from the date the application is completed but can take significantly longer. A 510(k) application must be supported by extensive data, including technical information, labeling, and potentially clinical data to meet any Special Controls and to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device to the FDA’s satisfaction. After a medical device receives 510(k) clearance, any modification that could significantly affect its safety or effectiveness, or that would constitute a significant change in its intended use, requires a new 510(k) clearance or, depending on the modification, could require a PMA application. The FDA requires each manufacturer to make this determination initially, but the FDA can review any such decision and can disagree with a manufacturer’s determination. If the FDA disagrees with a manufacturer’s determination regarding whether a new pre-market submission is required for the modification of an existing device, the FDA can, at its discretion, require the manufacturer to cease marketing and/or recall the modified device until 510(k) clearance or PMA is obtained. In addition, in these circumstances, we may be subject to significant regulatory fines or penalties for failure to submit the requisite 510(k) or PMA application(s).
PMA. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, and devices deemed not substantially equivalent to a previously cleared 510(k) device generally require a PMA before they can be commercially distributed. A PMA application must be supported by extensive data, including technical information, pre-clinical and clinical trials, manufacturing information and labeling, to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the device to the FDA’s satisfaction. After a PMA application is complete, the FDA begins an in-depth review of the submitted information, which generally takes between one and three years, but may take significantly longer. During this review period, the FDA may request additional information or clarification of information already provided. Also, during the review period, an advisory panel of experts from outside the FDA may be convened to review and evaluate the application and provide recommendations to the FDA as to the approvability of the device. The FDA conducts a pre-approval inspection of the manufacturing facility to ensure compliance with Quality System Regulations (“QSR”), which impose elaborate design development, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures in the design and manufacturing process. The FDA may approve a PMA application with post-approval conditions intended to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the device including, among other things, restrictions on labeling, promotion, sale and distribution, and collection of long-term follow-up data from people in the clinical study that supported approval. Failure to comply with the conditions of approval can result in materially adverse enforcement action, including the loss or withdrawal of the approval. After pre-market approval, a new pre-market approval application or application supplement may be required in the event of modifications to the device, its labeling, intended use or indication, or its manufacturing process. PMA supplements often require submission of the same type of information as a PMA application, except that the supplement is limited to information needed to support any changes from the device covered by the original PMA application, and may not require as extensive clinical data or the convening of an advisory panel.
Clinical Trials. Clinical trials are almost always required to support a PMA application and may also be required to support 510(k) submissions. If the device presents a “significant risk” to human health as defined by the FDA, the FDA requires the device sponsor to submit an investigational device exemption (“IDE”) and obtain IDE approval prior to commencing human clinical trials. The IDE must be supported by appropriate data, such as animal and laboratory testing results, showing that it is safe to test the device in humans and that the testing protocol is scientifically sound. Clinical trials for a significant risk device may begin once an IDE is approved by the FDA and the appropriate Institutional Review Board (“IRB”) at each clinical trial site. If the product is deemed a “non-significant risk” device, IDE approval from the FDA would not be required, but the clinical trial would need to meet other requirements including IRB approval. Clinical trials for a significant risk device may begin once an IDE is approved by the FDA and the appropriate IRB at each clinical trial site.
Our clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with FDA regulations and federal and state regulations concerning human subject protection, including informed consent and healthcare privacy. A clinical trial may be suspended by the FDA or at a specific site by the relevant IRB at any time for various reasons, including a belief that the risks to the trial participants outweigh the benefits of participation in the clinical trial. Even if a clinical trial is completed, the results of our clinical testing may not demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the device or may be equivocal or otherwise not be sufficient for us to obtain approval of our product.
Ongoing Regulation. After a device is placed on the market, numerous regulatory requirements apply, including:
•establishment registration and device listing;
•QSR, which requires manufacturers, including third party manufacturers, to follow stringent design, testing, control, documentation and other quality assurance procedures during the development and manufacturing process;
•labeling regulations and prohibitions against the promotion of products for uncleared, unapproved or “off-label” uses, and other requirements related to promotional activities;
•medical device reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA if their device may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction were to recur;
•corrections and product recall reporting regulations, which require that manufacturers report to the FDA field corrections and product recalls or removals if undertaken to reduce a risk to health posed by the device or to remedy a violation of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that may present a risk to health. In addition, the FDA may order a mandatory recall if there is a reasonable probability that the device would cause serious adverse health consequences or death; and
•post-market surveillance regulations, which apply when necessary to protect the public health or to provide additional safety and efficacy data for the device.
Failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements can result in enforcement actions by the FDA and other regulatory agencies, which may include any of the following sanctions: untitled letters or warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees, civil or criminal penalties, recall or seizure of our current or future products, operating restrictions, partial suspension or total shutdown of production, refusal of or delay in granting 510(k) clearance or PMA of new products or modified products, rescinding previously granted 510(k) clearances or withdrawing previously granted PMAs, or refusal to grant import or export approval of our products.
We are subject to announced and unannounced inspections by the FDA, and these inspections may include the manufacturing facilities of our subcontractors. If, as a result of these inspections, the FDA determines that our equipment, facilities, laboratories or processes do not comply with applicable FDA regulations and conditions of product approval, the FDA may seek civil, criminal or administrative sanctions and/or remedies against us, including the suspension of our manufacturing operations. Since approval of the Omnipod System, we have been subject to FDA inspections of our facilities on multiple occasions.
Other Regulations
Licensure. Several states require that durable medical equipment (“DME”) providers be licensed in order to sell products in that state. Certain of these states require, among other things, that DME providers maintain an in-state location. In order to sell our product through the pharmacy channel in the United States, we are required to work with intermediaries who have the appropriate pharmacy license for the applicable market.
In addition, we are subject to certain state laws regarding professional licensure. We believe that our certified diabetes educators are in compliance with all such state laws. However, if our educators or we were to be found non-compliant, we may need to modify our approach to providing education, clinical support and customer service.
Federal Anti-Kickback and Self-Referral Laws. The federal healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the knowing and willful offer, payment, solicitation or receipt of any form of remuneration (anything of value) in return for, or to induce:
•the referral of an individual;
•furnishing or arranging for the furnishing of items or services reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health care programs; or
•the purchase, lease, or order of, or the arrangement or recommendation of the purchasing, leasing, or ordering of, any item or service reimbursable under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health care programs.
The federal Anti-Kickback Statute has been interpreted to apply to arrangements between drug and medical device manufacturers and suppliers on one hand and prescribers, patients, purchasers and formulary managers on the other. Liability under the statute may be established without a person or entity having actual knowledge of the statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, claims resulting from a violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute constitute false or fraudulent claims for purposes of the federal civil False Claims Act, which is addressed below. Although there are a number of statutory exemptions and regulatory safe harbors protecting certain common business practices from prosecution and administrative sanctions, the exemptions and safe harbors are drawn narrowly, and practices that involve remuneration that may be perceived
as inducing the prescription, purchase, or recommendation of the Omnipod System may be subject to scrutiny under the law. For example, we provide the initial training to users necessary for appropriate use of the Omnipod System either through our own diabetes educators or by contracting with outside diabetes educators that have completed a Certified Pod Trainer training course. We compensate outside diabetes educators for their services at contracted rates deemed to be consistent with the market. We have structured our arrangements with diabetes educators and other business practices to comply with statutory exemptions and regulatory safe harbors whenever possible, but our practices may be subject to scrutiny if they fail to strictly comply with the criteria in the exemption or regulatory safe harbor. Moreover, there are no safe harbors for many common practices such as providing reimbursement assistance, coding and billing information or other customer assistance and product support programs. If any of our practices, arrangements or programs are found not to be in compliance with the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, we could be subject to significant criminal, civil and administrative penalties, including imprisonment, fines, damages, and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid or other governmental programs, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Federal law also includes a provision commonly known as the “Stark Law,” which prohibits a physician from referring Medicare or Medicaid patients to an entity for the furnishing of certain “designated health services,” including durable medical equipment, in which the physician has an ownership or investment interest or with which the physician has entered into a compensation arrangement. Violation of the Stark Law could result in denial of payment, disgorgement of reimbursements received for items and services referred by a physician with a noncompliant arrangement, civil damages and penalties, and exclusion from Medicare, Medicaid or other governmental programs. Although there are a number of statutory and regulatory exceptions protecting certain common business practices implicating the Stark Law, and we have structured our arrangements with physicians and other providers to comply with these exceptions, these arrangements may not expressly meet the requirements for applicable exceptions from the law.
Federal Civil False Claims Act. The federal civil False Claims Act imposes penalties against any person or entity who, among other things, knowingly presents, or causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment of government funds or knowingly making, using or causing to be made or used a false record or statement material to a false or fraudulent claim. Actions under the False Claims Act may be brought by the Attorney General or as a qui tam action by a private individual in the name of the government. Violations of the False Claims Act are subject to the imposition of significant per claim penalties, three times the amount of damages that the federal government sustained and possible exclusion from participation in federal health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid. We believe that we are in compliance with the federal government’s laws and regulations concerning the filing of claims for reimbursement. However, many drug and medical device manufacturers have been investigated or subject to lawsuits by whistleblowers and have reached substantial financial settlements with the federal government under the False Claims Act for a variety of alleged improper marketing activities, including providing free product to customers with the expectation that the customers would bill federal programs for the product; or causing submission of false claims by providing inaccurate coding or billing information to actual or prospective purchasers. Our business practices could be subject to scrutiny and enforcement under the federal False Claims Act. We also may be subject to other federal false claim laws, including federal criminal statutes that prohibit making a false statement to the federal government.
Civil Monetary Penalties Law. We are subject to the federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law, which prohibits, among other things, the offering or transferring of remuneration to a Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary that the person knows or should know is likely to influence the beneficiary’s selection of a particular supplier of Medicare or Medicaid payable items or services. Noncompliance can result in significant civil monetary penalties for each wrongful act, assessment of three times the amount claimed for each item or service and exclusion from the federal healthcare programs.
Federal Health Care Fraud Statutes. We are also subject to a federal health care fraud statutes that, among other things, impose criminal and civil liability for executing a scheme to defraud any health care benefit program including non-governmental programs, and prohibits knowingly and willfully falsifying, concealing or covering up a material fact or making any materially false or fraudulent statement or representation, or making or using any false writing or document with knowledge that it contains a materially false or fraudulent statement in connection with the delivery of or payment for health care benefits, items or services. Violations of these statutes can result in significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, fines, damages, and exclusion from federal health care programs.
State Fraud and Abuse Laws and Marketing Restrictions. Many states have adopted anti-kickback, anti-referral laws, and false claims laws and regulations analogous to the federal civil Anti-Kickback Statute and federal False Claims Act. In some cases, these state laws apply regardless of the payor, including private payors. We believe that we are in conformance with such laws. Moreover, several states have imposed requirements to disclose payments to health care providers, restrictions on marketing and other expenditures, and requirements to adopt a code of conduct or compliance program with specific elements. Liability under such laws could result in fines and penalties and restrictions on our ability to operate in these jurisdictions.
Administrative Simplification of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) mandated the adoption of standards for the exchange of electronic health information to encourage overall administrative simplification and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the healthcare industry. Ensuring privacy and security of patient information is one of the key factors driving the legislation. HIPAA regulations have been amended under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009. If we are found to be in violation of HIPAA, we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act. The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) is a consumer privacy law, which provides certain privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state of California that became effective in January 2020. These consumer rights include the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to know whether the data is sold or disclosed and to whom, the right to request a company to the delete personal information collected, the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information and the right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when a consumer exercises a privacy right. The California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”) amends and expands the CCPA and is to take effect in January 2023 with respect to personal data collected beginning in January 2022. If we fail to comply with these regulations, we could be subject to civil sanctions, including fines and penalties for noncompliance.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (“ACA”) enacted significant changes to the provision of and payment for healthcare in the United States. Under the ACA and related laws and regulations, federal and state government initiatives are focused on limiting the growth of healthcare costs and implementing changes to healthcare delivery structures. These reforms are intended in part to put increased emphasis on the delivery to patients of more cost-effective therapies and could adversely affect our business. Some of the provisions of the ACA have yet to be fully implemented, and certain provisions have been subject to judicial and Congressional challenges. In addition, there have been efforts to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA and to alter the implementation of the ACA and related laws. It is unclear how the ACA and its implementation, as well as efforts to repeal or replace, or invalidate, the ACA, or portions thereof, will affect our business. Additional legislative changes, regulatory changes, and judicial challenges related to the ACA remain possible. While some uncertainty exists regarding the future aspects of the ACA, we expect that the ACA will continue to have a significant impact on the delivery of healthcare in the United States and on our business in the near term.
Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The Physician Payments Sunshine Act, implemented as the Open Payments program, requires manufacturers of drugs and devices for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (with certain exceptions) to report annually to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) information related to direct or indirect payments and other transfers of value provided to physicians and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by physician and their immediate family members. Beginning in 2022, applicable manufacturers also will be required to report information regarding payments and transfers of value provided to physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse anesthetists and certified nurse-midwives. Failure to disclose reportable payments could subject us to penalties and materially adversely impact our business and financial results. Certain states’ laws require additional reporting of payments and transfers of value to health care providers.
As these laws and regulations continue to evolve, we lack definitive guidance as to the application of certain key aspects of these laws and regulations as they relate to certain of our arrangements and programs, including those with providers with respect to user training. We cannot predict the final form of these federal and state regulations or the effect their application will have on us. As a result, our provider and training arrangements may ultimately be found not to be in compliance with applicable federal law. Moreover, these laws continue to evolve. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 increased the criminal and civil penalties that can be imposed for violating certain federal health care laws, including the Anti‑Kickback Statute. Additionally, in late 2020, the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) finalized a rule that will remove protection from the discount safe harbor to the federal healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute for manufacturers rebates to pharmacy benefit managers (or “PBMs”), Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid managed care organizations (“MCOs”), effective January 2022. The rule also includes a new safe harbor for point-of sale-reductions offered by manufacturers to Part D plans, Medicaid MCOs and their PBMs, and a new safe harbor for certain fees manufacturers pay to PBMs for services to the manufacturers. The rule was finalized consistent with an Executive Order issued by the President in 2020; with the change in Administrations, it is possible that the rule may be revised before it is fully effective. If it takes effect as written, the rule will be one of the most significant amendments to the Anti-Kickback Statute regulatory safe harbors in decades and likely will transform manufacturer interactions with Part D plans, Medicaid MCOs and their PBMs.
Ensuring that our business arrangements and interactions with healthcare professionals, third‑party payors, customers and others comply with applicable healthcare laws and regulations requires substantial resources. Because of the breadth of these laws and the narrowness of the exceptions or safe harbors, it is possible that some of our business activities could be subject to challenge under one or more of these laws. Such a challenge could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if we are not found to have violated the law, responding to lawsuits, government investigations or enforcement actions, defending any claims raised, and paying any resulting settlement amounts would be expensive and time-consuming, and could have a material adverse effect on our reputation and business operations.
U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). We are also subject to FCPA and similar anti-bribery laws in non-U.S. jurisdictions, which generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Because of the predominance of government-sponsored healthcare systems around the world, our customer relationships outside of the United States may be with governmental entities and therefore subject to such anti-bribery laws. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. We operate in parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree, and in certain circumstances strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Despite our training and compliance programs, our internal control policies and procedures may not protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents.
International Regulations
International sales of medical devices are subject to foreign government regulations, which may vary substantially from country to country. The time required to obtain approval by a foreign country may be longer or shorter than that required for FDA clearance or approval, and the requirements may differ. There is a trend towards harmonization of quality system standards among the European Union, United States, Canada and various other industrialized countries.
The primary regulatory body in Europe is that of the European Union, which includes most of the major countries in Europe. Other countries, such as Switzerland, have voluntarily adopted laws and regulations that mirror those of the European Union with respect to medical devices. The European Union has adopted numerous directives and standards regulating the design, clinical trials, manufacture, labeling and adverse event reporting for medical devices, including the Medical Device Directive (“MDD”) and the Medical Device Regulation (“MDR”), which will replace MDD in May 2021. Devices that comply with the requirements of the relevant directive will be entitled to bear the CE conformity marking and, accordingly, can be commercially distributed. The method of assessing conformity with the applicable directive varies depending on the class of the product, but normally involves a combination of self-assessment by the manufacturer and a third-party assessment by a “Notified Body”. The latter is required in order for a manufacturer to commercially distribute the product throughout the European Union. This third-party assessment may consist of an audit of the manufacturer’s quality system and specific testing of the manufacturer’s product. Outside of the European Union, regulatory approval needs to be sought on a country-by-country basis for us to market our products.
We have obtained the right to affix the CE Mark to the Omnipod and Omnipod DASH Systems, which allows us to distribute these products throughout the European Union and in other countries that recognize the CE Mark. In addition, we have Health Canada approval to sell these products in Canada.
Outside the United States a range of anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, as well as industry specific laws and codes of conduct, apply to the medical device industry and interactions with government officials and entities and healthcare professionals. These laws include the U.K. Bribery Act and similar antibribery laws in other jurisdictions in which we operate. Such laws generally prohibit U.S.-based companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business to non-U.S. officials, or in the case of the U.K. Bribery Act, to any person.
General Data Protection Regulation. The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) is a comprehensive update to the data protection regime in the European Economic Area that imposes requirements relating to, among other things, consent to process personal data of individuals, the information provided to individuals regarding the processing of their personal data, the security and confidentiality of personal data, notifications in the event of data breaches and use of third party processors. If we fail to comply with these standards, we could be subject to criminal penalties and civil sanctions, including fines and penalties for noncompliance.
Human Capital Resources
Employees
Our people are our most valuable asset and are the source of our innovation and our success. We strive to attract and retain the best talent with competitive compensation and benefits, opportunities for growth and development, and a culture that emphasizes fair and equitable treatment. As of December 31, 2020, we had approximately 1,900 full-time employees,
representing a 41% increase over the prior year. Approximately 84% of our employees are located in the United States and the remainder are located in 12 other countries.
To assess and improve employee retention and engagement, we survey employees annually with the assistance of third party consultants, and take timely action to address key areas of employee concern. In 2020, 90% of our employees responded to the survey. We supplement this anonymous survey with additional surveys throughout the year. Our senior leadership team assesses engagement to understand and identify potential opportunities for improvement.
Our executive leadership team conducts quarterly Town Hall meetings to ensure our global employees are highly engaged and receive timely business updates. To help our employees feel socially connected to their colleagues while working remotely due to COVID-19, we created our “Stay Connected” initiative, which includes weekly video updates from leaders around the world. This initiative also includes virtual meetings with our executive team members. These virtual meetings are designed as casual conversations with our executives so employees can talk about what is on their minds, get to know the executive leaders, and connect with colleagues from across the organization. We have also implemented new technology platforms, including a social networking tool, to ensure our global employees are engaged, motivated, and collaborating with one another.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Our success thrives on the diversity of perspective, thought, experience, and background within our workforce. Our goal is to create an inclusive global culture that reflects the diversity of the customers we serve and fosters an environment where all employees feel welcomed, respected, and valued. Accordingly, we are committed to providing equal opportunity in all aspects of employment. Our annual three-day leadership program includes instruction in unconscious bias and hiring behaviors that support diversity. We have targeted recruitment programs for veterans and university students, including those of diverse backgrounds.
Our Employee Resource Groups (“ERG”) serve as a source of inclusion across seven categories: African Descent, LGBTQ+, Sustainability, Veterans and First Responders, Women, Working Parents, and Young Professionals. These ERG support the acquisition of diverse talent and are sponsored by senior leaders across our organization.
Training and Development
We are committed to fostering an environment in which our employees continuously learn and develop. We offer both leadership and professional skills development programs. All employees who join Insulet undergo a robust onboarding program called RITE Start that introduces our core values of respect, integrity, teamwork and excellence, and educates new employees about diabetes, our Omnipod products, our business strategy, and other business topics designed to engage and connect employees to each other and our mission. Employees have access to monthly learning programs and virtual and online learning programs. On June 1, 2020, we launched a new learning platform to all worldwide employees, which provides a daily professional development topic and includes a library of topics for our busy workforce. Since the launch, through December 31, 2020, over 45,000 lessons have been consumed by employees across the globe. Additionally, during our annual Compliance Week, employees logged over 4,300 training hours. We offer leadership development programs to support the growth of our future leaders. We also offer training for new managers and resources for experienced leaders. Additionally, we offer professional certification course reimbursement of up to $3,000 annually and tuition reimbursement of up to $5,250 annually for courses taken in pursuit of an undergraduate degree and up to $10,000 annually for courses taken in pursuit of a graduate degree. Finally, in response to COVID-19, we launched a series of virtual training programs and employee communications designed to support employees and leaders during a stressful transition to work at home, including programs on leading effective remote meetings, managing remotely and how to leverage collaborative learning tools.
Competitive Pay and Benefits
Our compensation program is designed to align employee compensation with our performance and to provide the proper incentives to attract, retain and motivate employees to achieve superior results. The structure of our compensation program balances incentive earnings for both short-term and long-term performance. Specifically,
•We provide employee wages that are competitive and consistent with employee positions, skill levels, experience, knowledge and geographic location.
•We engage internationally recognized outside compensation and benefits consulting firms to independently evaluate the effectiveness of our executive compensation and benefit programs and to provide benchmarking.
•We align our executives’ long-term equity compensation with our shareholders’ interests.
•Annual increases and incentive compensation are based on our performance as well as each individual’s contribution to the results achieved and are documented through our talent management process as part of our annual review process.
We are committed to providing comprehensive benefit options that allow our employees and their families to live healthier and more secure lives. Our wide-ranging benefits include: health insurance, telehealth, prescription drug benefits, dental insurance, vision insurance, accident insurance, critical illness insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, health savings accounts, flexible savings accounts, retirement plans, legal services, identity theft protection, maternity/paternity leave, and employee assistance program. In addition, we offer a free online wellness program; subsidized child, senior care or pet services and access to personal services; free virtual babysitting and tutoring services; Pod perks, which provides a free Omnipod System, including PDM and Pods to benefit eligible employees, interns or dependents; summer hours; and a flexible work policy. In addition, our employee stock purchase plan is available to all full-time employees and has a participation rate of over 50%.
Health and Safety
The health and safety of our employees is a top priority. Our safety focus is evident in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe, which includes the following:
•Creating a COVID-19 task force guided by several core principles, including protecting the health and safety of our employees and a COVID-19 response plan designed and guided by the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local governments, and health authorities and professionals;
•Adopting virtual on-boarding program for new employees and virtual customer training;
•Revising our flexible work policy to allow for greater work from home flexibility and providing equipment and tools to support remote work;
•Implementing health screening at our manufacturing facilities and corporate headquarters and enhanced cleaning procedures at all facilities;
•Providing meals for manufacturing employees to limit exposure and requiring manufacturing employees to quarantine for a period of time and produce two negative COVID-19 tests, if they travel to a “hotspot” location or attend a gathering where social distancing is not possible, before returning to the plant
•Providing 80 hours of COVID-19 paid sick time to all employees to use if they contract the virus or to care for family members and offering at-home COVID-19 testing to all U.S. full-time, part-time, and temporary employees and contractors;
•Requiring health and safety protocols training and site specific training for all employees before being allowed to return to the office;
•Installing signage at all facilities to remind employees to wear a mask, wash hands, and social distance;
•Installing cubicle panel extensions at our corporate headquarters to further protect employees within their designated workstations and plexiglass in the cafeteria to allow for safe food delivery and dining;
•Providing personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies to each employee at all facilities, globally and to all field personnel.
Company Information
Insulet Corporation is a Delaware corporation formed in 2000. Our principal office is located at 100 Nagog Park, Acton, Massachusetts, 01720 and our website address is http://www.insulet.com. We make available free of charge on our website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file or furnish such materials to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). We have also posted the charters for our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating, Governance and Risk Committee, as well as our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, under the heading “Corporate Governance” in the Investors section of our website. The information on our website is not incorporated in this report by reference. In addition, the SEC maintains a website (http//www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
We currently rely on sales of the Omnipod System, and tailored versions of the Omnipod System in our drug delivery product line, to generate nearly all our revenue.
Our main product is the Omnipod System, from which we expect to continue to derive nearly all our revenue. Accordingly, our ability to continue to generate revenue is highly reliant on our ability to market and sell the Omnipod System and to retain consumers who currently use the product. Our sales of the Omnipod System may be negatively impacted by many factors, including:
•the failure of the Omnipod System to achieve and maintain wide acceptance among opinion leaders in the diabetes treatment community, insulin-prescribing physicians, third-party payors and people with insulin-dependent diabetes;
•manufacturing problems or capacity constraints;
•actual or perceived quality problems;
•reductions in reimbursement rates or coverage policies relating to the Omnipod System by third-party payors;
•claims that any portion of the Omnipod System infringes on intellectual property rights of others;
•adverse regulatory or legal actions relating to the Omnipod System;
•damage, destruction or loss of any of the facilities where our products are manufactured or stored or of the equipment therein or failure to successfully open or expand new facilities;
•the inability of users to continue paying for our products;
•attrition rates of consumers who cease using the Omnipod System;
•competitive pricing; and
•results of clinical studies relating to the Omnipod System or our competitors’ products.
If any of these events occurs, our ability to generate revenue could be significantly reduced, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we fail to expand and maintain an effective sales force or successfully develop our relationships with intermediaries, our business, prospects and brand may be materially and adversely affected.
In addition to promoting, marketing and selling the Omnipod System through our own direct sales force, we also utilize domestic and international intermediaries to distribute our product to end-users. We need to expand our distribution network to maintain and grow our business and revenue. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully develop our relationships with third-party intermediaries. If we fail to do so, our sales could fail to grow or could decline, and our ability to grow our business could be adversely affected. Intermediaries that are in the business of selling other medical products may not devote a sufficient level of resources and the support required to generate awareness of our products and grow or maintain product sales. If our intermediaries are unwilling or unable to market and sell our products, or if they do not perform to our expectations, we could experience delayed or reduced market acceptance and sales of our products, which would adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to grow our revenue depends in part on our retaining a high percentage of our customers.
A key to driving our revenue growth is the retention of a high percentage of our customers. We have developed retention programs aimed at both healthcare professionals and consumers, which include appeals assistance, ongoing customer communications, newsletters, support, training and an automatic re-order program for certain customers. We have had a satisfactory customer retention rate; however, we cannot assure you that we will maintain this retention rate in the future. Current uncertainty in global economic conditions, competition, higher levels of unemployment, changes in insurance reimbursement levels and negative financial news may negatively affect product demand. If demand for our products fluctuates as a result of economic conditions or otherwise, our ability to attract and retain customers could be harmed. The failure to retain a high percentage of our customers could negatively impact our revenue growth and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we do not effectively manage our growth, our business resources may become strained and we may not be able to deliver the Omnipod System in a timely manner, which could harm our results of operations.
As we continue to expand our sales, we expect to continue to increase our manufacturing capacity, our personnel and the scope of our sales and marketing efforts. This growth, as well as any other growth that we may experience in the future, will provide challenges to our organization and may strain our management and operations resources. In order to manage future growth, we will be required to improve existing, and implement new, sales and marketing efforts and distribution channels. The form and function of our enterprise information technology systems will need to change and be improved upon as our business needs change. We will need to manage our supply chain effectively, including the continued development of our manufacturing and our relationships with our contract manufacturers and other suppliers. We may also need to partner with additional third-party suppliers to manufacture certain components of the Omnipod System and install additional manufacturing lines. A transition to new suppliers may result in additional costs or delays. We may misjudge the amount of time or resources that will be required to effectively manage any anticipated or unanticipated growth in our business or we may not be able to manufacture sufficient inventory, or attract, hire and retain sufficient personnel to meet our needs. If we cannot scale our business appropriately, maintain control over expenses or otherwise adapt to anticipated and unanticipated growth, our business resources may become strained, we may not be able to deliver the Omnipod System in a timely manner and our results of operations may be adversely affected.
Failure to secure or retain adequate coverage or reimbursement for our products by third-party payors could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We expect that sales of the Omnipod System will be limited unless a substantial portion of the sales price of the Omnipod System is paid for by third-party payors, including private insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, federal and state government healthcare agencies and other managed care providers. In the United States, we currently have contracts establishing reimbursement for the Omnipod System with national and regional third-party payors that provide reimbursement in all 50 states. While we anticipate entering into additional contracts with other third-party payors, we cannot assure you that our efforts will be successful. In addition, these contracts can generally be terminated by the third-party payor without cause. Healthcare market initiatives in the United States may also lead third-party payors to decline or reduce reimbursement for the Omnipod System. Moreover, compliance with administrative procedures or requirements of third-party payors may result in delays in processing approvals by those payors for consumers to obtain coverage for the use of the Omnipod System. Coverage decisions and rates of reimbursement increasingly require clinical evidence showing an improvement in user outcomes. Generating this clinical evidence requires substantial time and investment and there is no guarantee of a desired outcome.
We are an approved Medicare supplier and CMS has issued guidance clarifying that Medicare Part D Plan Sponsors may provide coverage for products such as the Omnipod System under the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. As a result, we must negotiate with third-party payors in order to provide our product through the pharmacy channel in the United States to users who are covered under Medicare Part D. Compliance with administrative procedures or requirements of these third-party payors may result in delays in processing approvals by those payors for consumers to obtain Medicare Part D coverage for the use of the Omnipod System. Medicaid coverage decisions are made by the governing authorities in each state. As the Medicaid coverage process and stakeholders are unique to each state, the timeline to gain coverage in each state may vary.
In the United States, we began selling Omnipod DASH in 2019, primarily through the pharmacy channel, which required negotiation of new or amended agreements with our intermediaries and payors. The availability of Omnipod DASH may be limited or restricted if we are unable to maintain these agreements and sustain an adequate level of reimbursement under these agreements. As we expand our Omnipod System sales and marketing efforts outside of the United States, we face additional risks associated with obtaining and maintaining reimbursement from foreign health care payment systems on a timely basis or at all. Failure to secure or retain adequate coverage or reimbursement for the Omnipod System by third-party payors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Healthcare reform laws could adversely affect our revenue and financial condition.
During the past several years, the U.S. healthcare industry has been subject to an increase in governmental regulation at both the federal and state levels. Efforts to control healthcare costs, including limiting access to care, alternative delivery models and changes in the methods used to determine reimbursement scenarios and rates, are ongoing at the federal and state government levels.
The ACA and related healthcare reform laws, regulations and initiatives have significantly increased regulation of managed care plans and decreased reimbursement to Medicare managed care. Some of these initiatives purport to, among other things, require that health plan members have greater access to drugs not included on a plan’s formulary. Moreover, to alleviate budget shortfalls, states have reduced or frozen payments to Medicaid managed care plans. We cannot accurately predict the complete
impact of these healthcare reform initiatives, but they could lead to a decreased demand for our products and other outcomes that could adversely impact our business and financial results.
Some of the provisions of the ACA have yet to be fully implemented, and certain provisions have been subject to judicial and Congressional challenges. In addition, there have been efforts to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA and to alter the implementation of the ACA and related laws. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was signed into law on December 22, 2017 eliminated the shared responsibility payment for individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage, commonly referred to as the “individual mandate”. Further, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 among other things, amended the Medicare statute to reduce the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly known as the “donut hole,” by raising the manufacturer discount under the Medicare Part D coverage gap discount program to 70%. It is unclear how the ACA and its implementation, as well as efforts to repeal or replace, or invalidate, the ACA, or portions thereof, will affect our business. Additional legislative changes, regulatory changes, and judicial challenges related to the ACA remain possible. It is possible that the ACA, as currently enacted or as it may be amended in the future, and other healthcare reform measures that may be adopted in the future, could have an adverse effect on our industry and on our ability to maintain or increase sales of any of our products.
Risks Related to Product Development, Market Access and Competition
We face competition from numerous competitors, many of whom have far greater resources than we have, and, as a result, we may not be able to compete effectively.
The medical device industry is intensely competitive, subject to rapid change and significantly affected by new product introductions and other market activities of industry participants. The Omnipod System competes with several existing insulin delivery devices as well as other methods for the treatment of diabetes. Medtronic has been the market leader for many years in the United States. Other suppliers we compete with include Tandem in the United States and Roche and Ypsomed outside the United States. In addition to the established insulin pump competitors, several companies are working to develop and market new insulin “patch” pumps and other methods for the treatment of diabetes. These companies are at various stages of development and the number of such companies continuously changes as they enter or exit the market on an ongoing basis.
Many of our competitors are large, well-capitalized companies with more resources than we have. These companies may have competitive advantages over us, including:
•significantly greater name recognition;
•different and more complete reimbursement profiles;
•established relations with healthcare professionals, customers and third-party payors;
•larger and more established distribution networks;
•greater experience in conducting research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing, marketing and obtaining regulatory approval; and
•greater financial and human resources for product development, sales and marketing, and patent litigation.
As a result, we may not be able to compete effectively against these companies or their products, which may adversely impact our business.
We also compete with MDI therapy, including smart pens, which is substantially less expensive than pump therapy. While we believe that pump therapy, in general, and the Omnipod System, in particular, have significant competitive and clinical advantages over traditional MDI therapy, improvements in the effectiveness of MDI therapy may result in fewer people with insulin-dependent diabetes converting from MDI therapy to pump therapy than we expect and may result in negative price pressure.
Our current competitors or other companies may at any time develop additional products for the treatment of diabetes. If an existing or future competitor develops a product that competes with or is superior to the Omnipod System, our revenue may decline. In addition, some of our competitors may compete by changing their pricing model or by lowering the price of their insulin delivery systems or ancillary supplies. If these competitors’ products were to gain acceptance by healthcare professionals, people with insulin-dependent diabetes or third-party payors, we could experience pricing pressure. If prices were to fall, our results of operations could be materially adversely impacted.
Technological breakthroughs in diabetes monitoring, treatment or prevention could render the Omnipod System obsolete.
The diabetes treatment market is subject to rapid technological change and product innovation. The Omnipod System is based on our proprietary technology, but a number of companies, medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies are pursuing
new delivery devices, delivery technologies, sensing technologies, procedures, drugs and other therapeutics for the monitoring, treatment and/or prevention of insulin-dependent diabetes. For example, FDA approval of a commercially viable “closed-loop” or “hybrid closed-loop” system that combines continuous “real-time” glucose sensing or monitoring and automatic continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion in a manner that delivers appropriate amounts of insulin on a timely basis with reduced user direction could have a material adverse effect on our revenue and future profitability. Medtronic commercially launched a “hybrid closed-loop” system in 2017, and in 2020 Tandem launched an AID system, which could negatively impact our business. In addition, the National Institutes of Health and other supporters of diabetes research are continually seeking ways to prevent, cure or improve the treatment of diabetes. Any technological breakthroughs in diabetes monitoring, treatment or prevention could render the Omnipod System obsolete, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our own new product development initiatives may prove to be ineffective or not commercially successful.
We have ongoing initiatives to develop products to improve the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. We may be unable to effectively introduce and market new products or may fail to keep pace with advances in technology. The healthcare industry is characterized by continuous technological change, resulting in changing consumer preferences and requirements. The success of our business depends on our ability to introduce new products and adapt to these changing technologies and consumer demands. To compete in the marketplace, we must make substantial investments in new product development whether internally or externally through licensing or acquisitions. Even if we can develop, manufacture and obtain regulatory and reimbursement approvals for our new products, the success of those products depends on market acceptance. Market acceptance for our new products could be affected by several factors, including the availability of alternative products from our competitors, the price of our products, the timing of our market entry, and our ability to market and distribute our products effectively. Our failure to introduce new and innovative products in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
If the third parties on which we rely to conduct our clinical trials and to assist us with pre-clinical development do not perform as contractually required or expected, we may not be able to obtain regulatory clearance or approval or commercialize our products.
We rely on third parties, such as contract research organizations, medical institutions, clinical investigators, contract laboratories and other third parties to conduct some of our clinical trials and pre-clinical investigations. If these third parties do not successfully carry out their contractual duties or regulatory obligations or meet expected deadlines, or if the quality or accuracy of the data they obtain is compromised due to failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or regulatory requirements or for other reasons, our pre-clinical development activities or clinical trials may be extended, delayed, suspended or terminated, and we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval for, or successfully commercialize, our products on a timely basis, or at all, and our business and operating results may be adversely affected. Furthermore, our third-party clinical trial investigators may be delayed in conducting our clinical trials for reasons outside of their control.
Future market or clinical studies may be unfavorable to the Omnipod System and its efficacy, which could hinder our sales efforts and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
To help improve, market and sell the Omnipod System, we have sponsored, and expect to continue to sponsor market studies to assess various aspects of the Omnipod System’s functionality and its relative efficacy. The data obtained from the studies may be unfavorable to the Omnipod System or may be inadequate to support satisfactory conclusions. In addition, in the future we may sponsor clinical trials to assess certain aspects of the efficacy of the Omnipod System. If future clinical trials fail to support the efficacy of our current or future products, our sales may be adversely affected and we may lose an opportunity to secure clinical preference from prescribing clinicians, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, future clinical studies or other articles regarding our existing products or any competing products may be published that either support a claim, or are perceived to support a claim, that a competitor’s product is clinically more effective or easier to use than the Omnipod System or that the Omnipod System is not as effective or easy to use as we claim. Additionally, diabetes associations, healthcare providers that focus on diabetes, or other organizations that may be viewed as authoritative could endorse products or methods that compete with the Omnipod System or otherwise announce positions that are unfavorable to the Omnipod System. Any of these events may negatively affect our sales efforts and result in decreased revenue.
We may be unable to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.
Our success depends in part on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies. We rely on a combination of patents, trade secrets, copyright and trademark laws, confidentiality, non-disclosure and assignment of invention agreements
and other contractual provisions and technical measures to protect our intellectual property rights. Despite these measures, any of our intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented or misappropriated.
Our ability to compete depends in part on our continued ability to develop or acquire commercially valuable patent rights and to protect those rights adequately. We may not be able to develop additional proprietary technologies that are patentable. Further, we cannot ensure that our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents to us, that patents issued to or licensed by us in the past or in the future will not be challenged or circumvented by competitors or that these patents will be found to be valid or sufficiently broad to preclude our competitors from introducing technologies similar to those covered by our patents and patent applications. In addition, our ability to enforce and protect our intellectual property rights may be limited in certain circumstances outside the United States. For example, we may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights effectively in China, where we rely on third-party contract manufacturers to produce our product. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our efforts to safeguard our unpatented and unregistered intellectual property rights, including requiring employees, consultants and other third parties to sign confidentiality, non-disclosure or assignment of invention agreements, may not be successful. The agreements may be breached and trade secrets and other proprietary information could be disclosed to our competitors. Further, we may have inadequate remedies for any breach. In addition, others may independently develop substantially equivalent or superior proprietary information and techniques or gain access to our trade secrets or disclose such technologies. If we are unable to sufficiently protect our intellectual property rights and our intellectual property is disclosed or misappropriated, our competitiveness could be impaired, which would limit our growth and future revenue.
To protect our intellectual property, we may need to assert claims of infringement against third parties. Any lawsuits that we initiate could be expensive, take significant time and divert management’s attention from other business concerns. The outcome of litigation to enforce our intellectual property rights is highly unpredictable. A court could determine that some or all of our asserted intellectual property rights are not infringed, or are invalid or unenforceable. Additionally, we may provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially valuable. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Claims that our current or future products infringe or misappropriate the proprietary rights of others could adversely affect our ability to sell those products and cause us to incur additional costs.
Substantial litigation over intellectual property rights exists in the medical device industry. We have settled infringement suits in the past and as disclosed in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, we are currently subject to patent infringement litigation with Roche Diabetes Care, Inc. In addition, we expect that we could be increasingly subject to third-party infringement claims as our revenue increases, the number of competitors grows and the functionality of products and technology in different industry segments overlaps. Third parties may currently have, or may eventually be issued, patents on which our current or future products or technologies may infringe. Any of these third parties might make a claim of infringement against us.
Such litigation, regardless of its outcome, could result in the expenditure of significant financial resources and the diversion of management’s time and resources. In addition, such litigation could cause negative publicity, adversely affect prospective users, cause product shipment delays, limit or prohibit us from manufacturing, marketing or selling our current or future products, require us to develop non-infringing technology, make substantial payments to third parties or enter into royalty or license agreements, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. If a successful claim of infringement were made against us and we could not develop non-infringing technology or license the infringed or similar technology on a timely and cost-effective basis, our revenue could decrease substantially, and we could be exposed to significant liability. A court could enter orders that temporarily, preliminarily or permanently enjoin our customers from using our products or us from manufacturing, selling, or importing our products, or could enter an order mandating that we undertake certain remedial activities.
Risks Related to Economic Conditions and Operating Internationally
Our financial condition and results of operations have been and may to continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption in the markets we sell our products into and operate in and negatively impacted business and healthcare activity globally. The pandemic and preventative measures taken to contain or mitigate the outbreak, have caused, and are continuing to cause, business slowdown or shutdown in affected areas and disruption in the financial markets globally. This has led to a significant increase in unemployment and a loss of employee-sponsored insurance coverage for many people in the United States. As a result, consumers may reduce their spending, new orders for our Omnipod System may decline and our customer attrition rate may increase, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, sales, financial condition and results of operations.
The COVID-19 pandemic also has the potential to significantly impact our supply chain if the manufacturing plants that produce our products or product components, the distribution centers where we manage our inventory, or the operations of our logistics and other service providers, including third parties that sterilize our products, are disrupted, temporarily closed or experience worker shortages for a sustained period of time. Although China, where we manufacture a significant portion of our product, has experienced a recovery and we are currently producing at pre-COVID-19 levels, should China suffer a COVID-19 relapse, it could hinder our ability to produce product and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have transitioned to a remote work environment for those employees who can perform their job function outside of our facilities. The remote work environment has increased risks associated with our information technology systems and networks, including cyber-attacks, computer viruses, disruptions, or shutdowns that could result in a failure to protect our information technology systems and data integrity.
The further spread of COVID-19, and the requirements to take action to help limit the spread of the illness, may impact our ability to carry out our business as usual. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic may divert healthcare resources away from the conduct of clinical trials and interrupt the operations of the FDA and comparable foreign regulatory agencies, which could delay product approval timelines, including for our Omnipod 5.
Our financial condition or results of operations may be adversely affected by international business risks.
We sell the Omnipod System in Europe, Canada and the Middle East. Our operations outside of the United States are subject to risks that are inherent in conducting business under non-U.S. laws, regulations and customs. Sales outside the United States made up approximately one third of our revenues in 2020 and we expect non-U.S. sales to contribute significantly to our future growth. If the U.S. dollar strengthens in relation to the currencies of other countries where we sell our products, such as the euro, our U.S. dollar reported revenue and income will decrease. Changes in the relative values of currencies occur regularly and, in some instances, may have a significant effect on our operating results. We also rely on third-party suppliers located outside the United States. For example, a significant portion of our Omnipod Systems are manufactured at third-party contract manufacturer facilities in China.
Our efforts to introduce or expand our current or future products in foreign markets may not be successful, in which case we may have expended significant resources without realizing the expected benefit. Ultimately, the investment required for expansion into foreign markets could exceed the results of operations generated from this expansion.
In addition to the risks discussed elsewhere in this Item 1A, other risks associated with doing business internationally, include:
•political instability and actual or anticipated military or political conflicts;
•trade protection measures, such as tariff increases, and import and export licensing and control requirements;
•negative consequences from changes in or interpretations of tax laws;
•difficulty in establishing, staffing and managing non-U.S. operations;
•difficulties associated with foreign legal systems, including increased costs associated with enforcing contractual obligations in foreign jurisdictions;
•changes in regulatory requirements;
•adapting to the differing laws and regulations, business and clinical practices, and consumer preferences in foreign markets;
•difficulties in managing foreign relationships and operations, including any relationships that we establish with foreign partners, distributors or sales or marketing agents; and
•difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and longer collection periods.
In addition, in January 2020, the U.K. withdrew from the European Union, commonly referred to as “Brexit”. The effects of Brexit will depend on the terms of the U.K.’s future relationship with the European Union. Although it is unknown what those terms will be, it is possible that there could be greater restrictions on imports and exports and on the movement of people between the U.K. and European Union countries, and increased regulatory complexities.
Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws could materially adversely affect our business and result in civil and/or criminal sanctions.
The FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and similar anti-bribery laws enacted in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Because of the predominance of government-sponsored healthcare systems around the world, most of our customer relationships outside of the United States are with governmental entities and are therefore subject to such anti-bribery laws. Because we do business in the U.K., the U.K. Bribery Act also extends to our interaction with public and private sector entities and persons outside the U.K., including in the U.S. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. We operate
in parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree, and in certain circumstances strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Despite our training and compliance programs, our internal control policies and procedures may not always protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. Violations of anti-bribery laws, or allegations of such violations, could disrupt our business and have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.
Risks Related to Supply Chain, Operations and Third-Party Arrangements
Our Omnipod System inventory is produced and maintained in a limited number of locations.
Our manufacturing of the Omnipod System is conducted in three locations, at our U.S. manufacturing facility in Massachusetts and on manufacturing lines owned by us at two facilities located in China, which are operated by third-party contract manufacturers. Political or financial instability, currency fluctuations, the outbreak of pandemics such as the COVID-19, labor unrest, transport capacity and costs, port security, weather conditions, natural disasters, or other events that could slow or disrupt port activities and affect foreign trade are beyond our control and could materially disrupt our supply of product from China, increase our costs, and/or adversely affect our results of operations. Further, following the COVID-19 pandemic there may be increased pressure for U.S. medical device companies to reduce dependency on China for their supply chain. In addition, substantially all our U.S. Omnipod System inventory is held at a single location in Massachusetts and our European Omnipod System inventory is maintained by a third-party logistics entity primarily in a single location in the Netherlands. We take precautions to ensure that our third-party contract manufacturers and logistics entity safeguard our assets, including insurance, health and safety protocols, and off-site storage of computer data. However, a natural or other disaster, such as a fire or flood, could cause substantial delays in our operations, damage or destroy our manufacturing equipment and/or inventory and cause us to incur additional expenses. The insurance we maintain may not be adequate to cover our losses in any particular case. With or without insurance, damage to our facility, manufacturing equipment, inventory or other property or to any of our suppliers, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we are unable to obtain sufficient components or raw materials on a timely basis or if we experience manufacturing difficulties, including not effectively managing the start-up of new manufacturing lines, our business may be harmed.
The manufacture of our product requires the timely delivery of sufficient amounts of quality components and materials. We acquire our components and materials from many suppliers in various countries. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure the continuity of supply, but we cannot guarantee these efforts will always be successful. Further, while efforts are made to diversify our sources of components and materials, in certain instances we acquire components and materials from a sole supplier. In addition, due to the stringent regulations and requirements of the FDA and other similar non-U.S. regulatory agencies regarding the manufacture of our products, we may not be able to quickly establish additional or replacement sources for some components or materials. A reduction or interruption in supply, and an inability to develop alternative sources for such supply, could hinder our ability to manufacture our products in a timely or cost-effective manner, and have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
The manufacture of our product is highly exacting and complex, due in part to strict regulatory requirements. Problems in the manufacturing process, including equipment malfunction, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, defective raw materials and environmental factors, could lead to launch delays, product shortage, unanticipated costs, lost revenues and damage to our reputation. A failure to identify and address manufacturing problems prior to the release of products to our customers may also result in a quality or safety issue. Significant manufacturing problems or inability to obtain key components and materials could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, as we commence operation of new manufacturing lines, we could experience quality issues and unexpected operational delays that decrease our gross margins and cause a shortage of product supply.
We are dependent upon third-party suppliers, making us vulnerable to supply problems and price fluctuations.
We rely on suppliers who manufacture the components for and perform assembly of the Pods and PDMs. In addition, two third-party contract manufacturers in China perform assembly and supply a significant portion of all finished Omnipod Systems. We do not have long-term supply agreements with all our suppliers, and, in many cases, we, or our contract manufacturers, make purchases based on individual purchase orders. In some cases, our agreements with suppliers can be terminated by either party upon short notice. Additionally, our suppliers may encounter problems during manufacturing for a variety of reasons, including failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, failure to comply with applicable regulations, equipment malfunction, component part supply constraints and environmental factors, any of which could delay or impede their ability to meet our demand. Our reliance on these third-party suppliers also subjects us to other risks that could harm our business, including:
•we are not a major customer of many of our suppliers, and these suppliers may therefore give other customers’ needs higher priority than ours;
•we may not be able to obtain an adequate supply in a timely manner or on commercially reasonable terms;
•our suppliers may make errors in manufacturing that could negatively affect the safety or efficacy of our products, cause delays in shipment or negatively affect our reputation;
•we may have difficulty locating and qualifying alternative suppliers for our sole-source supplies;
•switching components may require product redesign and submission to the FDA of a new 510(k);
•our suppliers manufacture products for a range of customers, and fluctuations in demand for the products these suppliers manufacture for others may affect their ability to deliver products to us in a timely manner;
•thefts of our trade secrets and intellectual property could occur with the third-party supply process;
•the occurrence of a fire, natural disaster or other catastrophe, impacting one or more of our suppliers, may affect their ability to deliver products to us in a timely manner;
•our suppliers may encounter financial hardships unrelated to our demand, which could inhibit their ability to fulfill our orders and meet our requirements, and
•our suppliers may fail to comply with conflict minerals, anti-slavery or other applicable laws, thus impairing our ability to source materials.
We may not be able to quickly establish additional or alternative suppliers, particularly for our sole-source suppliers, in part because of the FDA approval process and because of the custom nature of various parts. An interruption or delay in obtaining products from our third-party suppliers, or our inability to obtain products from alternate sources at acceptable prices in a timely manner, could impair our ability to meet the demand of our customers and cause them to cancel orders or switch to competing products.
We rely on agreements or licenses to intellectual property or other rights in order to sell our current product and commercialize new products.
We rely on agreements or licenses to intellectual property or other rights in order to sell our current product and commercialize new products. If we cannot retain or obtain these agreements, licenses, or other rights, we may not be able to sell, develop or commercialize our products. For example, our rights to incorporate the FreeStyle blood glucose meter into the Omnipod are governed by a license agreement with Abbott. In addition, we have a commercial agreement with Dexcom that allows us to launch Omnipod 5 with integration to Dexcom’s CGM and have a development agreement with Abbott to integrate Abbott’s CGM into Omnipod 5. The loss of any of these rights could impair the functionality of the Omnipod or prevent us from selling our products without significant development and regulatory activities that may not be completed in time to prevent an interruption in the availability of the Omnipod to consumers. This could result in a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We also have a partnership with Glooko that allows the Omnipod System to connect with Glooko’s cloud-based diabetes data management system so that users and healthcare providers can monitor user data, including insulin delivery trends and blood glucose levels. Our agreement with Glooko expires in December 2025. If this agreement is not renewed in the future, our business could be materially adversely impacted.
Our non-insulin drug delivery product line faces challenges which, if not met, may impair its future success.
Our non-insulin drug delivery product line involves the development, manufacture and sale of a modified Omnipod System for delivery of a specific drug other than insulin. Most of our commercialized drug delivery revenue consists of sales of a customized version of our product for use in Amgen’s Neulasta Onpro kit. The marketing and sales initiatives driving this product line differ markedly from those on which we rely for our sales of Omnipod Systems to treat diabetes since the non-insulin drug delivery devices depend on marketing and sales to pharmaceutical companies, not to users and clinicians. We expect that the future results of our non-insulin drug delivery product line will face several challenges, including:
•our identification of drug delivery opportunities for a modified Omnipod System;
•our achievement of satisfactory development and pricing terms with the pharmaceutical companies that sell such drugs;
•our development of appropriate modifications to our Omnipod System technology to address the needs and parameters required for the respective drug-delivery opportunities;
•manufacturing issues relating to the modified Omnipod System;
•long lead-times associated with the development, regulatory approvals and ramp up applicable to the use of modified Omnipod Systems for the delivery of such drugs;
•relatively small number of modified Omnipod Systems needed to address each drug-delivery opportunity;
•uncertainties regarding the market acceptance of such drugs and the modified Omnipod System as appropriate delivery device;
•uncertainties relating to the success of the pharmaceutical companies in marketing and selling such drugs as well as the modified Omnipod Systems as the appropriate delivery devices;
•intense competition in the drug-delivery industry, including from competitors which have substantially greater resources;
•demand for non-insulin drugs, including the impact of generics and biosimilars;
•maintaining appropriate gross margins; and
•regulatory requirements and reimbursement rates associated with such drugs.
If we are unsuccessful in overcoming one or more of these challenges, or if our agreement with Amgen is terminated, our financial results could be materially and adversely impacted.
Risks Related to Government Regulation and Litigation
We are subject to extensive government regulation, which could restrict the sales and marketing of our products and could cause us to incur significant costs.
Our medical device products and operations are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA and various other federal, state, local and foreign government authorities. Government regulation of medical devices is meant to assure their safety and effectiveness, and includes regulation of, among other things:
•design, development and manufacturing;
•testing, labeling, content and language of instructions for use and storage;
•clinical trials;
•regulatory clearances and approvals including premarket clearance and approval;
•product safety;
•advertising and promotion;
•marketing, sales and distribution;
•conformity assessment procedures;
•product traceability and record keeping procedures;
•product complaints, complaint reporting, recalls and field safety corrective actions;
•post-market surveillance, including reporting of deaths or serious injuries and malfunctions that, if they were to recur, could lead to death or serious injury;
•post-market studies; and
•product import and export.
Before a new medical device, or a significant modification of a medical device, including a new use of or claim for an existing product, can be marketed in the United States, it must first receive either 510(k) clearance or PMA from the FDA, unless an exemption applies. In December 2012, we received 510(k) clearance for our Omnipod. We have since obtained clearance for modified versions of this device, including Omnipod DASH, which was cleared by the FDA in 2018 to be used as an integrated insulin pump in an interoperable AID system. We may be required to obtain a new 510(k) clearance or PMA for significant further post-market modifications to the Omnipod System. Obtaining 510(k) clearance or PMA for medical devices can be expensive and lengthy, and entail significant user fees. Further, we may not be able to obtain additional 510(k) clearances or PMAs for new products or for modifications to, or additional indications for, the Omnipod System in a timely fashion or at all. Delays in obtaining future clearances could adversely affect our ability to introduce new or enhanced products in a timely manner, which in turn could harm our revenue and future profitability.
We also are subject to numerous post-marketing regulatory requirements, which include quality system regulations related to the manufacture of our devices, labeling regulations and medical device reporting regulations. The last of these regulations requires us to report to the FDA if our devices cause or contribute to a death or serious injury, or malfunction in a way that would likely cause or contribute to a death or serious injury if the malfunction recurred. If we fail to comply with present or future regulatory requirements that are applicable to us, we may be subject to enforcement action by the FDA, which may include any of the following sanctions:
•untitled letters, warning letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;
•customer notification, or orders for repair, replacement or refunds;
•voluntary or mandatory recall or seizure of our current or future products;
•administrative detention by the FDA of medical devices believed to be adulterated or misbranded;
•operating restrictions, suspension or shutdown of production;
•refusing our requests for 510(k) clearance or PMA of new products, new intended uses or modifications to the Omnipod System;
•rescinding 510(k) clearance or suspending or withdrawing PMAs that have already been granted; and
•criminal prosecution.
The occurrence of any of these events may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, the FDA may change its clearance and approval policies, adopt additional regulations or revise existing regulations, or take other actions that may prevent or delay approval or clearance of our products under development or impact our ability to modify our currently approved or cleared products on a timely basis. The FDA is in the process of reviewing the 510(k) approval process and criteria and has announced initiatives to improve the current pre- and post-market regulatory processes and requirements associated with infusion pumps and other home use medical devices. As part of this effort, the FDA is reviewing the adverse event reporting and recall processes for insulin pumps. Any change in the laws or regulations that govern the clearance and approval processes relating to our current and future products could make it more difficult and costly to obtain clearance or approval for new products, or to produce, market and distribute existing products.
The Omnipod is also sold in Canada and certain countries in Europe and the Middle East. As a result, we are required to comply with additional foreign regulatory requirements. As we expand our sales efforts internationally, we may need to obtain additional foreign approval certifications. Failure to fulfill foreign regulatory requirements on a timely basis or at all could adversely affect our ability to grow our business.
If we, our contract manufacturers or our component suppliers fail to comply with the FDA’s quality system regulations, the manufacturing and distribution of our devices could be interrupted, and our sales and operating results could suffer.
We, our contract manufacturers and our component suppliers are required to comply with the FDA’s QSR, which is a complex regulatory framework that covers the procedures and documentation of the design, testing, production, control, quality assurance, sterilization, labeling, packaging, storage, shipping and servicing of our devices. Compliance with applicable regulatory requirements is subject to continual review and is monitored rigorously through periodic, sometimes unannounced, inspections by the FDA. We cannot assure you that our facilities or our contract manufacturers’ or component suppliers’ facilities would pass any future quality system inspection. If our or any of our contract manufacturers’ or component suppliers’ facilities fails a quality system inspection, the manufacturing or distribution of our devices could be interrupted, and our operations disrupted. Failure to take adequate and timely corrective action in response to an adverse quality system inspection could force a suspension or shutdown of our labeling operations or the manufacturing operations of our contract manufacturers, or a recall of our devices.
If we, or our manufacturers, fail to adhere to QSR requirements, this could delay production of our products and lead to fines, difficulties in obtaining regulatory clearances, recalls, enforcement actions, including injunctive relief or consent decrees, or other consequences, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.
Malfunction of our products could lead to recalls or safety alerts and have a significant adverse impact on us.
Medical device manufacturers are required to report to the FDA information that a device has or may have caused or contributed to a death or serious injury or has malfunctioned in a way that would likely cause or contribute to death or serious injury if the malfunction of the device or one of our similar devices were to recur. Any such adverse event involving our products could result in voluntary corrective actions, such as recalls or customer notifications, or agency action, such as inspection or enforcement action. Adverse events involving our products have been reported to us in the past, and we cannot guarantee that they will not occur in the future. Any corrective action, whether voluntary or involuntary, such as our voluntary Medical Device Correction issued in February 2020, may require the dedication of our time and capital, could distract management from operating our business and potentially harm our reputation and financial results.
The FDA and similar governmental bodies in other countries have the authority to require the recall of our products if we or our contract manufacturers fail to comply with relevant regulations pertaining to manufacturing practices, labeling, advertising or promotional activities, or if new information is obtained concerning the safety or efficacy of these products. A government-mandated recall could occur if the FDA finds that there is a reasonable probability that the device would cause serious, adverse
health consequences or death. A voluntary recall by us could occur as a result of any material deficiency in a device, such as manufacturing defects, labeling deficiencies, packaging defects or other failures to comply with applicable regulations.
Recalls of any of our products would divert managerial and financial resources and could have an adverse effect on our reputation, results of operations and financial condition, and impair our ability to produce our products in a cost-effective and timely manner in order to meet our customers’ demands. We may also be subject to liability claims, be required to bear other costs, or take other actions that may have a negative impact on our future sales and our ability to generate profits. Companies are required to maintain certain records of recalls, even if they are not reportable to the FDA. We may initiate voluntary recalls involving our products in the future that we determine do not require notification of the FDA. If the FDA disagrees with our determinations, they could require us to report those actions as recalls. In addition, the FDA could take enforcement action for failing to report the recalls when they were conducted.
We may be subject to enforcement action if we engage in improper marketing or promotion of our products.
Our promotional materials and training methods must comply with FDA and other applicable laws and regulations, including the prohibition of the promotion of unapproved, or off-label, use. Doctors may prescribe our products off-label, as the FDA does not restrict or regulate a doctor’s choice of treatment within the practice of medicine. However, if the FDA determines that our promotional materials or training constitutes promotion of an off-label use, it could request that we modify our training or promotional materials or subject us to regulatory or enforcement actions, including the issuance of an untitled letter, a warning letter, injunction, seizure, civil fine or criminal penalties. It is also possible that other federal, state or foreign enforcement authorities might take action if they consider our promotional or training materials to constitute promotion of an off-label use, which could result in significant fines or penalties under other statutory authorities, such as laws prohibiting false claims for reimbursement. In that event, our reputation could be damaged, and adoption of the products could be impaired. Although our policy is to refrain from statements that could be considered off-label promotion of our products, the FDA or another regulatory agency could disagree with our characterization of certain statements and conclude that we have engaged in off-label promotion. In addition, the off-label use of our products may increase the risk of product liability claims. Product liability claims are expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention, result in substantial damage awards against us, and harm our reputation.
If we were found to be noncompliant with state DME licensure rules, we could lose our licensure in that state, which could prohibit us from selling our current or future products directly to consumers in that state.
Several states require that DME providers be licensed in order to sell products to customers in that state. Certain of these states require, among other things, that DME providers maintain an in-state location. Although we believe we are in compliance with all applicable state regulations regarding licensure requirements, if we were found to be noncompliant, we could lose our licensure in that state, which could prohibit us from selling our current or future products directly to consumers in that state.
The medical device industry is heavily regulated. If we fail to comply with all applicable laws and government regulations, we could be subject to substantial penalties and/or be excluded from participation in government programs.
Our relationships with customers and third-party payors are subject to broadly applicable fraud and abuse and other health care laws and regulations that may constrain our sales, marketing and other promotional activities by limiting the kinds of financial arrangements, including sales programs and certain customer and product support programs, we may have with hospitals, physicians, customers or other potential purchasers of medical devices. These laws include, among others, the federal healthcare Anti-Kickback Statute, the federal civil False Claims Act, other federal health care false statement and fraud statutes, the Open Payments program, the Civil Monetary Penalties Law, and analogous fraud and abuse and transparency laws in most states, as described in “Item 1—Business—Government Regulation”.
We conduct various marketing and product training activities that involve making payments to healthcare providers and entities. While we believe and make every effort to ensure that our business arrangements with third parties and other activities and programs comply with all applicable laws, these laws are complex and our activities may be found not to be compliant with one of these laws, which may result in significant civil, criminal and/or administrative penalties, fines, damages, and exclusion from participation in federal health care programs. Even an unsuccessful challenge or investigation into our practices could cause adverse publicity, and be costly to respond to, and thus could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our compliance with Medicare and Medicaid regulations may be reviewed by federal or state agencies, including the OIG, CMS, and the Department of Justice, or may be subject to whistleblower lawsuits under federal and state false claims laws. To ensure compliance with Medicare, Medicaid and other regulations, government agencies conduct periodic audits of us to ensure compliance with various supplier standards and billing requirements.
Risks Related to Privacy and Security
We are subject to complex and evolving laws and regulations regarding privacy and data protection, many of which are subject to change and uncertain interpretation, which could result in claims, changes to our business practices, monetary penalties, increased cost of operations, or declines in user growth or engagement, or otherwise harm our business.
We are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the United States and abroad relating to privacy and data protection, data security, data retention and deletion, personal information, electronic contracts and other communications. The introduction of new products or expansion of our activities in certain jurisdictions may subject us to additional laws and regulations. For example, data privacy laws at the federal and state levels protect the confidentiality of certain health information and restrict the use and disclosure of that protected information. In particular, the U.S. privacy rules under HIPAA protect medical records and other personal health information by limiting their use and disclosure, giving individuals the right to access, amend and seek accounting of their own health information and limiting most use and disclosures of health information to the minimum amount reasonably necessary to accomplish the intended purpose. In the state of California, the CCPA, which provides certain privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state became effective in 2020, and the CPRA, which amends and expands the CCPA, will take effect in 2023. These consumer rights include the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to know whether the data is sold or disclosed and to whom, the right to request a company to delete the personal information collected, the right to opt-out of the sale of personal information and the right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when a consumer exercises a privacy right. California and other states’ laws apply more broadly and now or in the future may reach data we hold that relates to employees and health care providers, not just customers. In addition, data security protection laws passed by the federal government and many states require notification to data subjects, including customers and others, when there is a security breach of personal data. If we fail to comply with these regulations, we could be subject to civil sanctions, including fines and penalties for noncompliance.
In addition, foreign data protection, privacy, and other laws and regulations can be more restrictive than those in the United States. Data localization laws in some countries generally mandate that certain types of data collected in a particular country be stored and/or processed within that country. We could be subject to audits in Europe and around the world, particularly in the areas of consumer and data protection, as we continue to grow and expand our operations. Legislators and regulators may make legal and regulatory changes, or interpret and apply existing laws, in ways that make our products less useful to users, require us to incur substantial costs, expose us to unanticipated civil or criminal liability, or cause us to change our business practices. These changes or increased costs could negatively impact our business and results of operations in material ways. For example, the GDPR imposes requirements in the European Economic Area relating to, among other things, consent to process personal data of individuals, the information provided to individuals regarding the processing of their personal data, the security and confidentiality of personal data, notifications in the event of data breaches and use of third party processors. If we fail to comply with these standards, we could be subject to criminal penalties and civil sanctions, including significant fines and penalties.
We rely on the proper function, availability and security of our product and information technology systems and a cyber-attack or other breach or disruption of our product or these systems could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit and store electronic information in our day-to-day operations. The form and function of such systems may change over time as our business needs change. The nature of our business involves the receipt and storage of personal and financial information regarding our customers. We use our information technology systems to manage or support a variety of business processes and activities, including sales, shipping, billing, customer service, procurement and supply chain, manufacturing and accounts payable. In addition, we use enterprise information technology systems to record, process, and summarize transactions and other financial information and results of operations for internal reporting purposes and to comply with financial reporting, legal, and tax regulatory requirements. Our information technology systems may be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to computer viruses, attacks by computer hackers, failures during the process of upgrading or replacing software, databases or components thereof, power outages, hardware failures, telecommunication failures, user errors or catastrophic events. Any failure by us to maintain or protect our information technology systems and data integrity, including from cyber-attacks, intrusions, disruptions or shutdowns, could result in the unauthorized access to customer data and personally identifiable information, theft of intellectual property or other misappropriation of assets or the loss of key data and information, or otherwise compromise our confidential or proprietary information and disrupt our operations. Additionally, the FDA has warned that insulin pumps may have cybersecurity vulnerabilities and could be manipulated by hackers, causing danger to diabetes patients. If our product is breached or our information technology systems are breached or suffer severe damage, disruption or shutdown and we are unable to effectively resolve the issues in a timely manner, our business and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.
Failure to maintain the privacy and security of our customer, third-party payor, employee, supplier or Company information could result in substantial costs and/or subject us to litigation, enforcement actions and reputational damage.
Our business, like that of most medical device manufacturers, involves the receipt, storage and transmission of customer information and payment and reimbursement information, as well as confidential information about third-party payors, our employees, our suppliers and our Company. Our information systems are vulnerable to an increasing threat of continually evolving cybersecurity risks. Unauthorized parties may attempt to gain access to our systems or information through fraud or other means of deceiving our employees or third-party service providers. Hardware, software or applications we develop or obtain from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information and device security. The methods used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service or sabotage systems are also constantly changing and evolving, and may be difficult to anticipate or detect for long periods of time. We have implemented and regularly review and update processes and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to or use of secured data and to prevent data loss. However, the ever-evolving threats mean we must continually evaluate and adapt our systems and processes, and our efforts may not be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches, misuse of data or sabotage of our systems. Any future significant compromise or breach of our data security, whether external or internal, or misuse of customer, third-party payor, employee, supplier or Company data, could result in significant costs, lost sales, fines, lawsuits and damage to our reputation. In addition, as the regulatory environment related to information security, data collection and use, and privacy becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could also result in additional costs.
Risks Related to Our Debt
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt, which is substantial.
As of December 31, 2020, we had debt of $1.3 billion, including $1.2 billion aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes, which mature between 2024 and 2026. Our ability to make scheduled payments or to refinance the Convertible Senior Notes or other debt obligations depends on our financial and operating performance, which is subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business and other factors beyond our control. We cannot guarantee that we will maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to repay the principal or service our interest. If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund these obligations, we may be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures, sell assets or operations, seek additional capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness, including the outstanding Convertible Senior Notes. We cannot assure you that we would be able to take any of these actions, that these actions would permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations or that these actions would be permitted under the terms of our future debt agreements.
Conversion of any of our Convertible Senior Notes may dilute the ownership interest of existing stockholders or depress our stock price.
The conversion of some or all our Convertible Senior Notes may dilute the ownership interests of existing stockholders. Any sales in the public market of any of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock. In addition, the anticipated conversion of the Convertible Senior Notes into a combination of cash and shares of our common stock could depress the price of our common stock.
Our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards may be subject to limitation.
Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code imposes an annual limit on the amount of net operating loss carryforwards that may be used to offset taxable income when a corporation has undergone significant changes in its stock ownership or equity structure. Our ability to use net operating losses may be limited by prior changes in our ownership and may be further limited by the issuance of common stock in connection with the conversion of our Convertible Senior Notes, or by the consummation of other transactions. As a result, if we earn net taxable income, our ability to use net operating loss carryforwards to offset U.S. federal taxable income may become subject to limitations, which could potentially result in increased future tax liabilities for us.
General Risks
Our success will depend on our ability to attract and retain personnel.
Over the last several years, we have made significant changes to our senior management team and to many other positions throughout the Company. We believe we will benefit substantially from the leadership and performance of these new and promoted employees. Our success will depend on our ability to retain our employees and to attract and retain additional qualified personnel in the future. In addition, it is important to the success of the Company that the transition of new and promoted employees and executives be largely seamless. Competition for senior management personnel, and other highly
skilled personnel is intense and there can be no assurances that we will be able to retain our personnel. The loss of the services of members of our senior management, and other highly skilled personnel could prevent or delay the implementation and completion of our objectives or divert management’s attention to seeking qualified replacements.
Additionally, the sale and after-sale support of the Omnipod System is logistically complex, requiring us to maintain an extensive infrastructure of field sales personnel, diabetes educators, customer support, insurance specialists, and billing and collections personnel. We face considerable challenges in recruiting, training, managing, motivating and retaining these employees, including managing geographically dispersed teams. If we fail to maintain and grow an adequate pool of trained and motivated personnel, our reputation could suffer, and our financial position could be adversely affected.
Acquisitions or investments in new businesses, products or technologies could disrupt our business.
If we are presented with appropriate opportunities, we may pursue acquisitions or investments in complementary businesses, products or technologies. We may not complete the transactions in a timely manner, on a cost-effective basis, or at all, and we may not realize the expected benefits of any acquisition or investment. Even if we are successful in making an acquisition, the products and technologies that we acquire may not be successful or may require significantly greater resources and investments than we originally anticipated. We could also experience negative effects on our results of operations and financial condition from acquisition-related charges, amortization of intangible assets and asset impairment charges if the acquisitions are not as successful as we originally anticipate. We will likely face risks, uncertainties and disruptions associated with the integration process, including difficulties in the integration of the operations of any acquired company, integration of acquired technology with our products, and the potential loss of key employees, customers, distributors or suppliers of the acquired businesses. Integration of an acquired business also may require management resources that otherwise would be available for development of our existing business. If an acquired business fails to operate as anticipated or cannot be successfully integrated into our existing business, our stock price, business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may have to incur debt or issue equity to pay for any future acquisitions or investments, the issuance of which could be dilutive to our existing stockholders.
We may need to raise additional funds in the future, and these funds may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.
Our capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:
•revenue generated by sales of our current products and any other future products that we may develop;
•costs associated with capital expenditures, including adding additional manufacturing capacity;
•costs associated with any expansion, including expanding our sales and marketing efforts globally;
•expenses we incur in manufacturing and selling our products;
•costs of developing new products or technologies and enhancements to our products;
•costs of complying with regulatory requirements, including obtaining and maintaining FDA approval or clearance of our current or future products;
•costs associated with litigation; and
•the number and timing of any acquisitions or other strategic transactions.
We may in the future seek additional funds from public and private stock offerings, borrowings under credit lines or other sources, and we may need to raise additional debt or equity financing to repay our outstanding Senior Convertible Notes. If we issue equity or debt securities to raise additional funds, our existing stockholders may experience dilution, and the new equity or debt securities may have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of our existing stockholders. In addition, if we raise additional funds through collaboration, licensing or other similar arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our potential future products or proprietary technologies or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us.
Our ability to raise additional capital may be adversely impacted by current economic conditions, including any sustained disruption to the credit and financial markets from the COVID-19 pandemic. If the macro-economic disruption continues for pro-longed periods, we may need to raise additional capital and capital may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. We cannot predict when the macro-economic disruption stemming from COVID-19 will ebb or when the economy will return to pre-COVID-19 levels, if at all.
If we are unable to raise additional capital due to these or other factors, we may need to further manage our operational expenses, including potentially curtailing planned product development activities. In addition, we may not be able to execute our business plan, take advantage of future opportunities or respond to competitive pressures or unanticipated customer requirements. If any of these events occur, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The price of our common stock may be volatile.
The market price of our common stock is affected by a number of factors, including:
•failure to maintain and increase production capacity and reduce per unit production costs;
•changes in the availability of third-party reimbursement in the United States or other countries;
•volume and timing of orders for our products;
•developments in administrative proceedings or litigation related to intellectual property rights;
•issuance of patents to us or our competitors;
•the announcement of new products or product enhancements by us or our competitors;
•the announcement of technological or medical innovations in the treatment or diagnosis of diabetes;
•changes in governmental regulations or in the status of our regulatory approvals or applications;
•publication of clinical studies relating to our products or a competitor’s product;
•quarterly variations in our or our competitors’ results of operations;
•changes in earnings estimates or recommendations by securities analysts; and
•general market conditions and other factors, including factors unrelated to our operating performance or the operating performance of our competitors.
At times, the fluctuations in the market price of our common stock have been unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance. In particular, the U.S. equity markets have at times experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market prices of equity securities of many technology companies. Broad market and industry factors such as these could materially and adversely affect the market price of our stock, regardless of our actual operating performance.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We own a 350,000 square foot facility in Acton, MA, which houses both our headquarters and our U.S. manufacturing. As of December 31, 2020, we leased a total of 15 facilities in 7 countries consisting of approximately 225,000 square feet of office, research and development and warehousing space and other related facilities, primarily in North America and Europe.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
The information required by this Item is provided under “Legal Proceedings” in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.