Inspire Medical Systems Inc, makers of Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation for obstructive sleep apnea, had a “very strong beginning to the fiscal year, overcoming a challenging start in January and early February due to typical seasonality and the COVID Omicron surge,” says Tim Herbert, Inspire president and CEO in the company’s Q1 release.
“The team was able to ramp up procedures and establish momentum in the second half of the quarter, and we are confident that these positive growth trends will continue for the remainder of the year. Therefore, we are raising our full year 2022 revenue guidance to between $336 million to $344 million, an increase from our prior guidance of $318 million to $326 million,” Herbert says.
“One key factor driving the growth achieved during the quarter was the performance of our Advisor Care Program (ACP), which over 80% of the centers in the US are currently leveraging. During the first quarter, we experienced a significant increase in the number of patient appointments generated through the ACP. Moreover, we expanded our direct-to-consumer strategy by implementing national ad buys at the beginning of the year which resulted in a sharp rise in web activity that drove patient contacts to the ACP. Importantly, based on feedback derived from the ACP, we have come to understand that long sleep study wait times are a challenge for many patients. As such, we recently partnered with two privately held companies, EnsoData and Ognomy, to utilize innovative digital tools to further streamline the process for patients to receive Inspire therapy.”
“Our international business also continues to gain momentum. In Europe, despite significant impact from the COVID resurgence in the beginning of the year, we experienced a strong rebound in the second half of the quarter, primarily in Germany. Moreover, we are proud to have recently completed the first Inspire case in the United Kingdom and have been notified that the French authorities have approved Inspire therapy for reimbursement. We will work with the French authorities to establish the reimbursement levels over the next several quarters. In Asia, we continue to train a growing group of surgeons in Japan and are scheduling additional cases, though the COVID resurgence impacted this region, as well. Finally, the first Inspire cases are scheduled to be conducted in Singapore in the current quarter.”
During Q1, Inspire activated 74 new centers, and deactivated 25 inactive centers, bringing the net total to 733 US medical centers implanting Inspire therapy as of March 31, 2022. Inspire also added 17 new territories, bringing the total to 174 territories in the United States.
