The Smallest and Lightest Wearable Pump
EOFlow Co. announced on Nov. 22 that it has developed a 7-day wearable insulin pump prototype and is moving it to productization.
EOFlow has successfully completed various tests with samples that can operate for 7 days based on the company’s ultra-low-power, high-performance pumping technology. Based on the results of these tests, the company has officialized the development plan for this 7-day product, codenamed EOPatch 3.0 as the company’s next-generation product aiming for a 2024 launch.
EOPatch, which is EOFlow’s first commercialized product, is a wearable insulin pump that can be used for up to 3.5 days (84 hours), with the reservoir size of 2mL. In comparison, EOPatch 3.0 will have a 3mL reservoir, and run for up to seven days.
EOFlow disclosed that the company had been planning for this 7-day product for some time. Earlier this year, the company successfully completed biocompatibility and toxicity tests on all major fast acting insulin products with all its drug fluid path material for over seven days.
The company said that details of EOPatch 3.0 was still confidential, but the tested prototype sample was only about 22% larger in size and 20% heavier in weight than the current 3.5-day EOPatch product.
EOFlow’s founder and CEO Jesse J. Kim said, "The overall size and weight of the 3mL device marginally increases even though the reservoir volume has increased by 50% and the usage time has doubled to seven days, thanks to the ultra-low-power actuation technology, for which we hold extensive intellectual property rights."
Kim continued, “The 7-day device can be sold at double the price of the current 3.5-day product without costing users any extra. However, the production cost of EOPatch 3.0 will likely increase no more than some 10% over the current 3.5-day that we should be able to offer the product at a lower price. This will increase our margin while lowering the user cost and improving the user compliance with the weekly replacement. This will be a true win-win for everybody involved in the value chain.
“Building a small and light wearable 7-day device will be tough without an extremely power-efficient actuation technology. I firmly believe that we will be the first to the market and the sole provider in this space for a long time, which will allow us a strong presence in the global market. As a latecomer, we have been playing a catch-up in this market space until now. This is about to change, and we will work toward placing ourselves in a leadership position.”
He did add that the actual commercial launch timing would be hard to predict, as there is no precedence of a 7-day wearable insulin pump product anywhere in the world that the regulatory bodies would likely require clinical trials before approving such a product.
EOFlow will host a conference call on Nov. 23 at 11:00 a.m. (Korean Time) to discuss the financial results and business outlook.