President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Tandem Diabetes Care
Search every verified John Sheridan interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2019 interview on CNBC's *Mad Money*, Tandem Diabetes Care CEO Kim Blickenstaff described the company's t:slim X2 insulin pump as the only touchscreen pump on the market, comparing its remote software update capability to the iPhone model. He stated that Tandem and Medtronic are the two remaining competitors in the pump market, forming a duopoly. Blickenstaff noted that Tandem partners with Dexcom for automated insulin delivery and that its Basal-IQ algorithm, used with the Dexcom G6, eliminates finger sticks for the first time. He said that only 27 to 30% of type 1 diabetics use pumps because they have been "difficult, very cumbersome to use and embarrassing," and that Tandem aims to make pumps "consumer-friendly, not embarrassing, very simple with an intuitive interface." Blickenstaff recounted that Tandem faced setbacks in 2016, including UnitedHealth terminating coverage and early approval of the Medtronic 670G, but that the company recovered by using its Tandem Device Updater for the first time. He said Tandem conducted offerings, paid off its debt, and became debt-free, adding that his own prediction for the stock price was $12 a share in December 2018. He remarked that the company had been "essentially dead" for two years and expressed interest in how its market success might influence wireless remote healthcare.
“We make the t:slim X2 insulin pump and so it's the only touchscreen insulin pump in the marketplace and we can remotely update that software just like the iPhone, so it's very much sort of the Apple model.”
“We're now down to two competitors in the marketplace, ourselves and Medtronic, so it's a duopoly. When we entered there were actually four or five players.”
“We partner with Dexcom; they enable us to have automated insulin delivery and we're very much converging in the marketplace as we brought out our Basal-IQ algorithm this year with the G6, which eliminates finger sticks completely for the first time in history.”
“Only about 27 to 30% of type 1 diabetics are using pumps because they've been so difficult, very cumbersome to use and embarrassing. We try to go the Apple route: consumer-friendly, not embarrassing, very simple with an intuitive interface.”
“We had a series of misfortunes in 2016: UnitedHealth terminated coverage of us, and then the Medtronic 670G got approval early. The market was frozen, but we used our Tandem Device Updater for the first time, an industry first, and saw our numbers return.”
“We did offerings, paid off our debt, and are now a debt-free company. We created market valuation that I would never have predicted; my prediction was $12 a share last December.”
“For the last two years, we've been essentially dead, so it'll be interesting to see how our success and penetration of the market is going to bring different ideas in the world of wireless remote healthcare, which is where we're going.”
Jim Cramer interviews Tandem Diabetes CEO Kim Blickenstaff about selling the only touchscreen insulin pump on the market and ...
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