Tandem Diabetes Care

Tandem Diabetes Care is taking insulin pumps into the 21st century. The company's t:slim pump has the look of a smartphone, not a pager, and differs from traditional syringe-and-plunger insulin pumps in that it uses a miniature pump to draw insulin from a flexible bag within the cartridge, rather than a mechanical syringe. The FDA approved t:slim in 2011 and the company sold more than 5,000 pumps its first year. (It was one of the first products approved under the FDA's Infusion Pump Improvement Initiative.) Tandem Diabetes Care manufactures the t:slim and its accessories at a plant in California and sells them through distributors. The company went public in 2013 and raised $120 million, which it will use to expand its business.