Inogen expects ‘positive margin impact’ from Yuwell

GOLETA, Calif. – Inogen, in collaboration with Yuwell, will now have a stationary oxygen concentrator to package with its portable oxygen concentrator, giving its sales organization “more productivity per run,” said Kevin Smith. 

The company will offer stationary oxygen concentrators from Yuwell that are branded as Inogen “across our channels,” said Smith, president and CEO, during a recent conference call to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2024 financial results. 

“It will have a positive margin impact,” he said. “Maybe people don’t broadly know that every time when we place a POC with a patient through the rental chain, we also need to supply a stationary concentrator. And it’s a similar thing with our (provider) partners in our B2B network. So, it’s an opportunity to be able to package these up and have both of those in the rental and the B2B (segments) and there’s also the opportunity for us to sell for cash in our DTC channel. Leveraging the existing sales organization – not having to add additional salespeople or sales functions, if you will – (we’ll have) more throughput, more productivity per run.” 

Inogen says the collaboration with Yuwell, announced in January, broadens its product portfolio through distribution of certain respiratory products in the United States, expands and enhances its innovation pipeline through joint R&D efforts and accelerates its entry into the Chinese market. Yuwell has also agreed to invest about $27.2 million into Inogen, representing a 9.9% common equity interest.  

As part of the collaboration, Yuwell will distribute Inogen POCs under the Inogen brand in China, a “large and fast-growing respiratory market,” Smith said. 

Other highlights from the call: 

On the recent 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Simeox 200 Airway Clearance Device 

Inogen is now expanding clinical trials in an effort to secure Medicare reimbursement for the device, which Smith said “represents a sizable commercial opportunity by expanding the addressable patient population for our devices with limited commercial investment.” 

“Our goal is to make sure we maximize reimbursement for Simeox in the U.S. marketplace,” he said. “We have two opportunities in the calendar year to submit for reimbursement: Jan. 1 and July 1. Our medical team and our marketing teams are engaging with physicians, talking about Simeox and some of the data that’s relevant and available from Europe and talking about how we could impact those patients.” 

On its digital health offerings 

Smith said Inogen is in the process of launching several updates to its device connectivity and remote accessibility platform. 

“We are including new features in our Inogen Connect app, such as the ability for patients to receive important software updates, check battery life and receive device health summaries all from their phones,” he said. “For our B2B partners, they will now be able to remotely diagnose device issues, removing the need for costly repeat service visits.” 

On tariffs

“Our team has been closely monitoring government commentary and actions, and we have been diligent in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the situation,” said Mike Bourque, CFO. “Given that our primary manufacturing facilities are located in Plano, Texas, we believe any possible headwinds will be manageable. We will continue to follow communications from the U.S. federal and other government entities on this front and keep our stakeholders informed as appropriate.”   

• Related: Inogen accelerates entry into China. 

• Related: Inogen OK’d to supply airway clearance device.