18KIT
Multiple choice!
Jake Leach Dexcom's Chief Operating Officer spoke to
Sue Marshall about his plans for the company in the
coming years.
While Dexcom itself as
a company is going
through a little bit
of a transition, so
are its sensors. It's all quite gentle
and organised as CEO Kevin Sayer
prepares to step down, while existing
COO Jake Leach is lined up to take
his place full-time from January 2026.
Meanwhile the sensors continue
to progress as G6 will eventually
be replaced by G7, while the newer
Dexcom One+ will also replace the
original Dexcom One. The transition
of the Gs is mostly down to the
pumps they are paired with - those
who have paired with G6 to date
need to be able to pair with G7. So,
this in an ongoing process that is
underway with the relevant pump
manufacturers.
The G7 has been designed
specifically to go with HCL or AID
systems [hybrid closed loop, also
known as artificial insulin delivery].
Speaking to me from the recent
EASD conference that was held in
Vienna in September, Leach was able
to clarify the direction of travel for
Dexcom's sensor range. He told us,
"We are at a point now where we've
been able to learn from our recent
experience in the USA of having one
of the sensors, called Stelo, made
available OTC (over the counter).
We had a new learning curve
understanding who was opting to
pay for a sensor. We were interested
to find that as many as a third did
not even have either diabetes itself
or pre-diabetes, but were simply
interested in their own overall health
and how their bodies interact with
food. We plan on offering OTC in
other markets soon."
But that's not all. More
innovations are planned with the
sensor base - the G8 when it comes
out will be even smaller than the
G7, which was already smaller than
the G6. A sensor that stays on for 15
days is in the works. Another huge
challenge for Dexcom as a company
is to supply sensors at scale to large
populations, globally.
"Dexcom has been in the sensor
'space' for 25 years," says Leach,
The 'right dose
at the right time'
approach... as
part of this,
we're embracing
food recognition
technology too,
in order to drive
better outcomes' -
Jake Leach