In its second such deal in as many days, Insulet has put down another $25 million to acquire technology used in automating insulin delivery.
The insulin pump maker scooped up the assets of Silicon Valley-based Automated Glucose Control, according to an announcement this week. The purchase caps off a long-standing partnership between Insulet and AGC.
Their collaboration, which dates back to 2016, gave Insulet licensing rights to patents and intellectual property that AGC had in turn licensed from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The acquisition includes both the UCSB license and other IP owned by AGC.
At the core of the original licensing deal—and the latest $25 million trade-off—is an algorithm that can connect insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to create what’s known as an artificial pancreas system, automating the delivery of insulin from a pump based on blood sugar readings from the connected CGM. Insulet used the algorithm in the development of its Omnipod 5 insulin pump, which was cleared by the FDA and began its commercial rollout last year.
AGC’s co-founders, Jennifer Schneider, M.D., and Thomas Peyser, Ph.D., acted as consultants throughout the development process, per Insulet.
“We’ve enjoyed a productive relationship with AGC as we developed Omnipod 5 and continue to make significant advancements in the development of automated insulin delivery technology,” said Eric Benjamin, Insulet’s executive vice president of innovation, strategy and digital products. “It is exciting to see technology come out of the research lab and mature into a commercial application that improves the lives of people with diabetes.”
The announcement of the AGC asset buy came just one day after Insulet disclosed another purchase of IP related to automated insulin delivery technologies.
In that case, Insulet doled out another $25 million to Bigfoot Biomedical. Bigfoot’s flagship technology is a cap that fits onto a disposable insulin pen and is equipped with an artificial intelligence algorithm that analyzes CGM data to recommend insulin dosages throughout the day; in handing off to Insulet its additional patents related to automated insulin delivery, Bigfoot will use the payout to narrow its focus on the “smart” pen cap devices.
Insulet, meanwhile, suggested that the newly acquired tech could ultimately help strengthen the algorithms powering its tubeless pump system. The latest iteration, Omnipod 5, is designed to to take in glucose readings from a linked Dexcom CGM and use them to automatically adjust insulin delivery; the entire process is meant to be virtually hands-off for users but can monitored via a connected controller or the user’s own smartphone.