UPDATE 1-Insulet posts wider Q1 net loss on higher expenses

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May 13 (Reuters) - Insulet Corp (PODD.O: Quote, Profile, Research), a medical device company that makes an insulin pump for diabetics, posted a wider first-quarter net loss on higher sales and marketing expenses.

The company, which went public in May 2007, reported a net loss of $19.9 million, or 73 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $11.6 million, or $23.86 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose more than three-fold to $6.7 million.

Weighted average number of shares used in calculating net loss per share were 27.4 million for the latest quarter, compared with 484,431 shares a year ago, the company said.

Analysts on an average expected the company to post a loss of 56 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $5.9 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales and marketing expenses more than doubled to $8.6 million during the quarter, primarily due to an expansion in the company's salesforce and its manufacturing capacity.

Production of its insulin pump OmniPod reached 95,000 devices per month at the end of April 2008, an increase of about 58 percent since December 2007.

The company reaffirmed its 2008 revenue view of $40 million to $45 million. Analysts on an average expect $42.6 million.

Shares of the Bedford, Massachusetts-based company closed at $19.82 Tuesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Anuradha Ramanathan in Bangalore; Editing by Himani Sarkar)