AT A GLANCE
-
- Past CEO Isabelle Kenyon writes at Medium on her new role at Calibrate as she hands over the reins to Ed Cudahy and Scott Honken.
- Belgium’s Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products told Reuters ‘… it had seized counterfeit versions of semaglutide… in which the injector pens contained insulin….’ as per Patrick Wingrove.
- This Thursday, ‘…Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly reported booming sales…’ in their quarterly earnings reports, ‘…as both drugmakers continue to scramble to keep up with demand…’ from Daniel Gilbert at The Washington Post.
- Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) Chief Executive Helen Giza said during a post-earnings report call on the impact of GLP-1 drugs to ‘…be rather balanced on our patient population development in the long run.’
- Helen Ouyang details the story of Alexandra Duarte, who is now 16, undergoing bariatric surgery for obesity and related medical problems, at Texas Children’s Hospital.
- Bloomberg reviews ‘India’s Obesity Time Bomb’ in an informative 8 minute video, with a startling statistic that ‘…1 in 4 adults is considered overweight or obese in India.’
- I never would have thought it; Axios reports on how ‘…Ozempic has become the Taylor Swift of the stock market.’
NEWS
- Past CEO Isabelle Kenyon writes at Medium ‘…We started Calibrate with the belief that we all deserve a new chronic disease treatment paradigm—that medication is a tool, not a long-term treatment.’
- She ‘…cannot imagine a more exciting moment to focus on delivering on our audacious mission…’ as she steps into a new role at Calibrate and hands over the reins to Ed Cudahy and Scott Honken.
- Indeed, Calibrate started in 2019 before Ozempic, Wegovy and GLP-1 drugs were talked about so frequently across all aspects of American daily life.
- Jessica Matthews at FORTUNE dives deeper into the restructuring at Calibrate, reporting ‘…Calibrate CFO Dave Fielding will also step down…’ and ‘…Redesign Health, the startup studio that initially launched Calibrate in 2019… will play an active role in facilitating the restructuring.’
- Madryn Asset Management, ‘…the alternative asset management firm that lent Calibrate the majority of its funding this year…’ will also be involved in the restructuring.
- Calibrate, whose funding totaled over $160M, ‘…had to refund many patients’ subscription fees due to medication shortages… and the company has not been able to raise equity funding.’
- An investor letter refers to a ‘…rapid downsizing of Calibrate’s direct-to-consumer operations, and get the company to profitability…’ with support from Madryn Asset Management and others to ‘…deploy another $20 million of cash into the company.’
- This is sad news for all involved, but what is missing from the reporting is how this will affect the many thousands of individuals who have relied upon Calibrate to reframe their metabolic health.
- Rebecca Torrence and Shelby Livingston at Business Insider write ‘…members who signed up for a second year after achieving life-changing results in year one say they’ve stopped receiving support or medications from Calibrate…’ leading to frustration and desperation.
- Amidst the leadership changes, ‘…more than a dozen Calibrate health coaches have posted on LinkedIn that they’re looking for a new role.’
- Part of Calibrate’s approach was to wean patients off GLP-1 medications after their weight has reached a healthy BMI range, though Dr. Disha Narang, an endocrinologist and obesity-medicine specialist in Chicago, calls that ‘…false advertising.’
- Belgium’s Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products told Reuters ‘… it had seized counterfeit versions of semaglutide… in which the injector pens contained insulin….’ as per Patrick Wingrove.
- Additionally, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration ‘…said the agency had identified 14 cases of counterfeit obesity drugs this year.’
- This Thursday, ‘…Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly reported booming sales…’ in their quarterly earnings reports, ‘…as both drugmakers continue to scramble to keep up with demand…’ from Daniel Gilbert at The Washington Post.
- Danish company Novo Nordisk detailed ‘…$8.4 billion in revenue in the past three months – a 29 percent increase from a year ago – with its blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy accounting for more than half of sales.’
- Closest competitor, Indianapolis based Eli Lilly posted ‘…revenue of $9.5 billion for the latest quarter, a 37 percent increase, boosted by fast-growing sales of Mounjaro.
- Karsten Munk Knudsen, Novo’s chief financial officer stated ‘…In 2024, we will be delivering significant step-up in volumes to the U.S. …’ and David Ricks, Eli Lilly’s chief executive, said ‘…We’re not at all happy with the capacity we’ve announced already…’ and ‘…This is really all hands on deck.’
- Annika Kim Constantino reviews commentary from Novo Nordisk that ‘…80% of U.S. patients with insurance coverage… are paying less than $25 a month…’ for Wegovy.
- Doug Langa, Novo Nordisk’s vice president for North America acknowledged a move for ‘…more insurers opt in to cover the weekly injection…’ as opposed to fewer employers who have been opting out of coverage for their beneficiaries.
- The $25 out-of-pocket cost is still likely to add up, over months and years, though is far less than ‘…the full cost of a monthly package of Wegovy, which has a list price of around $1,350.’
- Back to the dialysis market, Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) Chief Executive Helen Giza said during a post-earnings report call on the impact of GLP-1 drugs to ‘…be rather balanced on our patient population development in the long run.’
- The medications may slow down the progression of kidney disease, which is a direct sequalae for patients suffering from obesity and diabetes.
OPINION
- Helen Ouyang details the story of Alexandra Duarte, who is now 16, undergoing bariatric surgery for obesity and related medical problems, at Texas Children’s Hospital.
- The article is compelling for me personally, as I developed and led the adolescent bariatric surgery program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, all the way back in 2013, with pediatric surgeon Dr. Joy Collins and board-certified nutrition pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth Parks.
- We were able to engage patients just like Alexandra to literally change their lives, not just from a physical and medical perspective, but almost more importantly, from a social, psychological, and personal perspective.
- The recent explosion of knowledge from GLP-1 medication clinical trials, through to new American Academy of Pediatrics clinical guidelines, have brought the issue that over 20%, or 1 in 5 of American children live with obesity today, and it is rising.
- Dr. Thomas Inge, chair of surgery at Lurie Children’s Hospital, in Chicago, and the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health research program for adolescent bariatric surgery called Teen-LABS, is a leader in this field; and he wants to do more.
- Sadly, Dr. Inge sees obstacles that are hard to get past, from ‘…finding a pediatric bariatric surgeon…’ to ‘…navigating the long, arduous process of insurance authorization.’
- These also exist for adult patients, summarized by Dr. Inge as ‘…all sorts of shenanigans for trying to not approve kids…’ driving to some parents travelling with their children to Tijuana, Mexico, for self-pay bariatric surgery.
- In a Pfizer sponsored article from The Boston Globe, Kristal Hartman, Chairwoman of the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), shares how she struggled all her life with chronic obesity. She describes ‘…the weight of stigma…’ such that her ‘…inability to lose weight was due to a lack of motivation or self-control.’
- By 2014, Krista had bariatric surgery, and has since ‘…lost 100 pounds, joined a running club, and signed up for a half marathon.’
- She ‘…didn’t do it to get to a number on a scale…’ rather ‘…because I needed to be healthy for myself and my kids.’
- Kristal is now working with Pfizer scientist Ryan Esquejo, to serve ‘…the needs of people who are suffering from obesity and type 2 diabetes.’
- Bloomberg reviews ‘India’s Obesity Time Bomb’ in an informative 8 minute video, with a startling statistic that ‘…1 in 4 adults is considered overweight or obese in India.’
- Whilst we think more of under-nutrition in parts of Asia and Africa, the recent explosion of middle-class wealth in such countries, has led to more sedentary lifestyles, processed and convenience foods, with expanding waistlines.
- The video focuses upon ‘junk food’ as the literal cause, which is too simplistic; the factors are heterogeneous, and as such, a multimodal care approach is necessary.
- I never would have thought it; Axios reports on how ‘…Ozempic has become the Taylor Swift of the stock market.’
- Krispy Kreme, Walmart, beer and snack stocks, clothing brands and airlines are all concerned on how the new drugs will affect the market, up or down.
- Nicholas Anderson, manager of the Thornburg International Growth Fund bluntly states ‘…The market is in a shoot-first, ask-questions-later mood when it comes to weight-loss drugs.’
- Transformational potential maybe, but there are too many unknowns; I am not sure how this is calculated but ‘…TD Cowen is projecting there will be .9% fewer calories consumed by 2030 because of these drugs.’
- Dani Blum at The New York Times writes that ‘…psychiatrists are turning to the drugs to counteract the weight gain that often comes with nearly all antipsychotics and some drugs used to treat depression and anxiety.’
- Six of ‘…13 leading mental health facilities and psychiatric departments at major health systems in the United States… said they were already recommending or prescribing drugs like Ozempic to their patients.’
- However, Dr. Mahavir Agarwal, a psychiatrist and scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, states ‘…There’s next to no data on people with depression, bipolar disorder or other mental illnesses taking semaglutide…’ and ‘…you’re sort of flying blind.’
- Dr. Shebani Sethi, at Stanford’s metabolic psychiatry program ‘…screens people for eating disorders and considers their medical history and body composition…’ before prescribing a drug like Wegovy.
- In converse, Dr. Ilana Cohen, a psychiatrist in Maryland, said ‘…she and other colleagues in the psychiatric hospital system were steering clear of the drugs, in part because of anecdotal reports that patients in Europe were having suicidal thoughts while on them.’
DATA
-
- A quiet one for clinical data and reports this week.
