Tandem Diabetes Care Gets FDA Approval For Remote Software Update Tool for Insulin Pumps, Stock Up

Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc.

revealed Thursday that the FDA has given its permission for the Tandem Device Updater, a Mac and PC-compatible tool for the remote update of Tandem insulin pump software. Following this, shares of the company traded higher in the pre-market trading itself. Tandem Diabetes Care said that the first use of its Device Updater would be for deployment of the latest t:slim Insulin Pump software to in-warranty t:slim Pumps bought before April last year. According to the company, this updated software started shipping on new t:slim Pumps as of April last year and included a number of product improvements for convenience, as well as, flexibility. The company indicated that any further software improvements and enhancements would be executed through its Device Updater since they were approved for commercial distribution. The company's president and CEO, Kim Blickenstaff, said, "This clearance, combined with the flexibility provided by our pumps' touchscreen interfaces, uniquely positions Tandem as the only insulin pump company with the ability to provide its customers access to new and enhanced features, separate from the typical multi-year warranty hardware replacement cycle. It's a way to deliver ongoing innovation to our customers faster than the industry has been able to in the past, which is of particular significance as our artificial pancreas efforts accelerate." Tandem Diabetes care said that it plans to launch the Tandem Device Updater first to early t:slim Pump users throughout the summer in a series of test groups. It would be followed by an expanded roll out later this year. Following the news, the stock advanced 0.88 percent on Thursday. In the pre-market trading, the stock surged 7.4 percent.