abbott diabetics

Libre could have saved ADC. If the trials in Europe had shown good reliability and predictable accuracy (even if not as good as strips) there would be a real bandwagon effect.

But it didn't. Users report unpredictable results. This kills the whole project, because once people cannot trust a BGM measurement device it becomes quite useless.

 

That was also a problem with Navigator: the accuracy. The FDA as you know requires all BGM meters and strips sold in the US to fall with in a tight acceptable range for accuracy. Navigator fell outside that range, failing to meet BGM accuracy standards.

Of course there are benefits for CGM, and one could argue that knowing levels 24\7 allows for better diabetes management compared to several sticks in a 24 hour period, even of the accuracy of the 24\7 reads are not up to BGM.

But regarding accuracy, to bring a CGM product to market in the US, one big question was if CGM needed its own set of accuracy standards, or could CGM's accuracy be improved to fall within BGM. That is an FDA question, and as anything like this goes with the FDA, one that would take years to get a decision. The cost to continue developing CGM, with the potential for an unfavorable FDA ruling after all of this investment by ABT, was a big part of what killed Navigator.

Libra would face the same issue if ADC tried to launch it here.

In addition to all of that, now we have learned that not only does Libra not fall within US accuracy requirements (actually we knew that from the beginning), there are additional problems inaccurate readings.

The good thing is that this is only a test. The bad thing is ADC decided to get ahead of themselves, and tried to position this as a soft launch, with press releases and PR articles. So now it will look more like a failed launch than fine-tuning, and is likely to get some negative press as a consequence.

 

BINGO. That was also one of the key reasons the insurers have rejected CGM: BGM is more accurate, at a fraction of the cost. The patients who's individual circumstances would benefit by CGM, under those conditions, were a subset of Type I's. How big that subset is I don't know, but whatever it was, ABT decided it was too small to offset the ROI.

Libra never had a chance here, short of a major investment in CGM to either improve accuracy over BGM, or take out significant costs. Or both. Neither could be done.

 

I pity the unemployed bitter fool.

 

That's the rumor going around Alameda: major layoffs in early Q1. Who is else hearing this too?

 

I asked my manager this morning, and he got very nervous. Voice went up a few octaves, started stammering. "Why do you ask", "who told you that", kind of answers. Interestingly, he didn't come out and deny it.

 

This year the layoff hit at the end Jan, a few weeks after Q1 results. We've had two more bad quarters since then. In 2013 they laid off about 150 from ADC, so it will happen again. Even with Libre I think Q4 will not be good...anyone know?

Job market is good. Have a merry Xmas but update your resume over the break.

 

The Q4 numbers indicate more of the same. So much so that the direction is "radio silence" from the top. There is no choice except for more blood shed in Q1, and senior management knows this. The only question is not how many get canned, but rather how few will survive. As for Libre, it's a flop, but just like the Q4 numbers it's radio silence from the top. Besides, as so many have pointed out, it'll never really launch here, or if it ever did, it would be too late.

 

Does anyone know how deep the cuts will be this time? I hope there's a lot of pharmaceutical companies posting jobs in Q1! I am so sick of the being treated like a mushroom (you all know what that means), and always wondering about job security. Management is abusive and disrespectful in general, starting with Duncan, and the cronyism is far beyond description. If the economy wasn't in the toilet, I'd welcome a layoff and severance package.

 

Libra main purpose will be giving ADC an excuse to continuos forward into 2015 and beyond. To kill a snake you have to cut off its head. Libra protects Dunky and his boyz head for another 1-2 years.

 

It is unlikely that a US launch is planned.

Reason being, this would require an FDA audit of the Libre production process. Abbott will not risk such a move unless the payoff is substantial, given their poor track record with Navigator.

 

The numbers tell all. If what is posted here, that Q4 is as bad or worse than all of 2014, ADC will have to cut. And it will cut deep. Do what I did, get out.

I read this board once and a while and it appears that ADC is getting worse. Shame.

 

Ok pal save the bull shit. Your kind beams on here and the reality of your sad situation is quite obvious. Yea you just "read this board once and a while." Let's see, you can't spell, you can't write and you could not even keep your job at ADC. Bum

 

Hey Duncan, nice of you to join in! Your motivational speak is always so .... inspiring? Ya gotta love a well trained ADC manager.

 

Bad as the Q4 2014 numbers will be, they probably will not change much compared to the trend of previous quarters. That said, some interesting comments about "radio silence" show we might get a surprise there.

The more interesting question is what will happen in Q1 2015 as existing contracts expire and are not renewed. Abbott will keep the operation going while there is profit left, but with high fixed costs the break even point will most likely be reached within 12 months. After that, closure is inevitable.

 

Yes as good as ADC has been over the years, we have let some bad hires slip through the cracks. They usually do surface and rear themselves right out of a job in due to
Time though.

 

Ahmen on that! Boy, sure have we had some empty headed boobs, robots, sadists, and narcissists. The thing that has us reps and worker bees have been scratching our heads, though, has always been this: why do always we promote them? I mean, look at the misfits at the senior management level at ADC. You can't blame ADC's utter lack of competitiveness over the past 8 years solely on the commoditization of BGM as a category. Every decision these bone heads have made has been a failure. Textbook examples of an incompetence at every position on the Op Com. Just think of the audits and warnings, recalls and voluntary actions, far above ADC's share of market. While J&J, Bayer, and Roche followed a glide path, ADC crashed and burned. Over and over again. So I agree with you, 100%: bad hires\appointments led to poor management which resulted in complete failure.

 

ADC made history when it was busted a few years back for promoting unqualified people into senior positions. FDA have never done this before or since - so it must have been really bad.

There were 4 citations made, apparently the true figure was 5 times this, the auditor got tired of writing down the details. If the person speaking to him wasn't qualified he would refuse to go further until a qualified person was provided.

In any other organisation the entire executive board and many middle managers would have been fired for a screw up on this scale. But this was ADC so the ridiculous charade has continued. At least until the place shuts down.

 

As #5174 above so aptly pointed out, we have had some real block heads "slip through the cracks" here at ADC. Interestingly, many of these people were known quantities by ABT, with a track record of incompetence, who avoided being fired by somehow getting themselves exiled to ADC. Duncan and Karl, for example, but there are many more. But what #5174 got wrong is that we never seem to fire these people. I wonder why that is?

 

Everything we read here is speculation, just writing on the bathroom wall. Who knows?

But if you want to get a real clue, just go ask your manager how the company is doing, and what the outlook is. Ask them about the steady quarterly declines over the last 5 years, continued steady losses in contract and market share, and how that seems to all relate to the steady drumbeat of layoffs each year. Then ask what it looks like in Q4, and what that might mean to all of us in 2015.

At least you'll learn if you can trust your manager. If you get smooth talk and "Duncan speak", then you know your boss is a skilled lier who will say anything he has to in order to get his\her way. If your manager suddenly looks or acts like he has an urgent case of explosive diarrhea, then you know he\she is a coward, terrified of Duncan and The Boyz, and not someone you can count on for anything.

If he looks you straight in the eye, tells you something along the lines of that while he can't predict the future, none of the indicators are good, and all we can do is do our jobs to the best of our ability because that is what we are being paid for, then follows that up with but we have to be smart, keep our eyes open, and take whatever actions we have to protect our families and future, then at least you might be working for someone who is honest.