Back in October Animas (well Johnson & Johnson, who own them) announced they were leaving the insulin pump market, and were ceasing sales in the US/Canada. But these were probably not their biggest market, and sales continued in the rest of the world. However Animas was based in the US so it was obvious that no new models would be coming, and they would eventually disappear worldwide.
Today that finally happened. JNJ have announced they will cease sales worldwide. But what does that mean for those of us in Australia?
First of all, this has no impact on sales of Dexcom CGM systems. The Animas Vibe could act as a G4 receiver, but Animas did not make the Dexcom gear.
Warranty and support of the Vibe pumps will continue through AMSL, although the details of the implementation of this are not clear yet. The pumps have a 4-year warranty, and I think anyone who has recently bought one should not panic that they will get stuck. In fact, I believe AMSL still have Vibe pumps for sale for a while. Eventually I’m sure AMSL will have an upgrade path available (whether it’s another pump that they sell, or an arrangement with another pump company).
We knew this was going to come eventually, but no-one knew exactly when. The pump market in Australia continues to evolve. Currently the following pumps are available for purchase through the usual private health insurance channels:
- Animas Vibe (only for a little while!)
- Accu-Chek Spirit Combo
Personally I’m considering getting one of these myself in the coming months. - Medtronic 640G
- Cellnovo
In the coming months we expect to see some new pumps appear here:
- Ypsopump
- Possibly the DANA R or RS
I’ve heard a few people hoping that the Tandem t:slim X2 will appear here, and I’m sure there are some companies working towards that. But that device does not yet have TGA approval for sale in Australia (the above do).
If you’re in the market for a pump, talk to your diabetes educator of course as they can help guide you through the process.
We continue to live in interesting times!