Inogen: ‘We feel we’re in a good position’ 

GOLETA, Calif. – Given the company’s current exemptions, Inogen does not anticipate material impact on its operating plan or financial profile from announced tariffs. 

Inogen, which recently announced a distribution agreement with Yuwell in China, believes it’s well positioned to continue executing on its strategic priorities despite these developments. 

“However, the situation is dynamic, and we will continue to monitor it closely,” said Kevin Smith, president and CEO, during a recent conference call to discuss the company’s financial results for the first quarter 2025. 

As part of the agreement, Inogen will distribute Yuwell’s stationary oxygen concentrators in the United States and Yuwell will distribute Inogen’s portable oxygen concentrators in China. Inogen expects to roll out a limited launch of Yuwell’s concentrators in the United Sates in 2025 with a broader launch in 2026. The companies continue to work through the registration process in China for Inogen’s POCs. 

While Inogen is not impacted by tariffs on products imported into the United States, an analyst asked whether reciprocal tariffs would affect the company’s distribution plans with Yuwell in China. 

“We do have manufacturing, remember, in the Czech Republic, without having to have components passed through the United States to make their way to Czech,” Smith said. “That gives us coverage in the Czech and opportunity in international markets potentially, including China. We are still a little away from having product there in China, so that gives us a little bit of time. But we have options to be able to get product into China, both from the United States, as well as from Europe, so we believe we have some mitigation.”   

Overall, Inogen saw its best results in its domestic and international business-to-business sales, which increased 29.9% and 22.9%, respectively, in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. Its direct-to-consumer sales, once again, decreased this quarter (26.8%), but the channel should see improvement in the second half of the year when it sees comps more in line with a sales force reduction in 2024. 

“What we've seen so far on a per-rep basis, year-on-year, is higher unit volume per rep,” Smith said. “We have higher revenue per rep. We have fewer returns per rep, which is also leading toward customer satisfaction. So, we feel that we're in a good position once we start to have that equal comparison year-on-year rep count.” 

• Related: Inogen expects positive margin impact from  Yuwell.