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Using GLP-1s drug injections for weight loss has become one of the latest ways some big names in the market are shedding extra pounds. Elon Musk recently tweeted about how using Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy helped him lose weight. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin recently told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that using a different version of Novo Nordisk’s same drug, Ozempic, which is most commonly associated with diabetes care, made him much less hungry.

“The weekly shot is amazing. … I started this about a year ago, it’s been life changing for me,” Rubin said. 

Social media influencer Remi Bader said she was prescribed Ozempic after experiencing issues with insulin and weight gain.

GLP-1s — which stands for glucagon-like peptide-1 — are receptor agonists that work by imitating the effects of the GLP-1 hormone, activating GLP-1 receptors inside of the pancreas and producing more insulin inside the body. The insulin helps lower blood sugar levels, which can be helpful in managing Type 2 diabetes. GLP-1s also have been found to help with weight loss as they make individuals who use them feel fuller for a longer period of time.

It’s not only the GLP-1 drugs that are helping celebrities and the wealthy, but also their ability to receive high quality clinical and obesity care that helps them lose the weight, according to Zachariah Reitano, the co-founder and CEO of telehealth company Ro. That’s why his company has launched a program to offer GLP-1 drugs and corresponding medical care to individuals struggling with obesity or weight loss issues.

“I think what we’re able to do now is leverage all of the technology that we have to give everyone access to something that only a few people have access to now,” Reitano said in a recent interview with CNBC. 

Ro’s Body Program offers personalized treatment for GLP-1s and weight management. The year-long program uses a combination of GLP-1s and personal coaching. In clinical trials, these drugs have helped participants lose an average of 15% of their weight over a year.

Pairing personalized coaching with GLP-1s is the key to effective weight loss treatment, Reitano said, and helping patients maximize their results.

“I think what’s really important is, yes, it’s access to the medication … but once they have the medication, we want to hold their hand throughout the entire process, and we have built the technology to be able to do that at scale,” Reitano said.

With the Ro Body Program, participants are first diagnosed, entering information about their health history, any weight loss and obesity challenges, and lifestyle and diet, and then are sent an at-home lab test to obtain measures of A1C blood sugar test, cholesterol and kidney function, among other health metrics. Based on their test results and an initial consultation, a doctor may prescribe patients to start off with a low dosage of GLP-1s that is slowly ramped up over time to meet the desired dosage amount.

Diabetes, obesity and a nationwide drug controversy

Ozempic – the brand of semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, marketed for Type 2 diabetes treatment – recently made headlines for a nationwide shortage as its use as a weight loss drug gained popularity. When Wegovy, the brand semaglutide marketed for weight management, began experiencing shortages, some using the medicine were prescribed off-brand Ozempic, makin the drug much harder to find. Many with Type 2 diabetes that relied on Ozempic to treat it have been left scrambling to find the medication. There have also been reports of people looking for weight loss help turning to multiple other drug solutions as a result of difficulty finding GLP-1 drugs.

Both obesity and Type 2 diabetes affect a large number of Americans. According to the CDC, the adult obesity rate in the United States was 41.9% in 2017, and about one in 10 people in the United States have Type 2 diabetes. Reitano said it is important to recognize both obesity and diabetes as diseases that deserve proper treatment.

“I think what we’re actually going to see over the next 5 to 10 years is a weight-centric approach to metabolic health,” Reitano said, who noted in a subsequent interview with CNBC’s “Mad Money” on Thursday night that his father’s personal experience with GLP-1 drugs was a motivating factor for his business decision. “I’ve seen GLPs have a tremendous impact on my dad,” he said.

He told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the once a week injections do three “very, very important things” when comes to obesity. They help regulate sugar levels; they help regulate appetite; and they slow the passage of food from the stomach to the small intestine. This combination of controls has helped patients in clinical studies lose on average 15% of body weight over a year.

Novo Nordisk, Ozempic and Wegovy’s manufacturer, told NBC News last week the company is still experiencing supply chain issues that will last through the month, though access to some dosages of Ozempic for patients with Type 2 diabetes has improved.

The GLP-1 drug Wegovy for weight issues or obesity is approved for individuals with a BMI of 26-plus and co-morbidities, or those with a BMI of 30-plus.

A new real-time approach to weight management

Reitano said it should not be an either/or scenario involving diabetes management of weight loss and that will change over the next decade.

“If we saw obesity as a disease, and we’re both focused on preventing it but once it happens treating it and treating it as a disease, I think we’re going to see an entirely different approach,” he said.

Reitano said the weight loss and obesity management program fits within his company’s broader goal of changing the way patients receive medical care and reach health goals, from doctor visits to pharmacy and ongoing health issue management.

“High-quality obesity care is an important part of it,” he told Cramer. “Patients can’t just receive these medications and be left to their own devices.”

In addition to shipping the GLP-1 drug to a patient’s home, the Ro Body program tracks patients in real-time with remote monitoring. That is facilitated by a cellular-connected smart scale also sent to the patient which tracks weight and sends data to an app so medical professionals can tweak dosages of the drugs to make sure the patient is receiving the right dose to achieve the weight loss results they want. Patients also receive one-to-one coaching with nurses over the year-long period and up to 24 telehealth visits with a doctor.

“The speed with which we can communicate with patients, update their plans and really be there for them and guide them through this experience, and have that serve as a really strong compliment to their overall primary care, is one of the things I think we’re really excited about,” Reitano said in a recent phone interview with CNBC.

Price of these drugs, though, is an issue, with Wegovy costing as much as $1,700 a month without insurance. Reitano said Ro helps guide individuals through the insurance process and to get these drugs at the lowest price, but he conceded in his “Mad Money” interview that pricing in this pharmaceutical niche “can be challenging for patients.”

The Ro Body Program is the latest addition to Ro’s health care offerings. The company, which ranked No. 38 on the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, started off selling men’s health care products, helping to treat issues such as erectile dysfunction and hair loss, and has since expanded to provide multiple at-home services including pharmaceutical and fertility treatments. 

CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Disruptor 50 list – our 11th annual look at the most innovative venture-backed companies. Learn more about eligibility and how to submit an application by Friday, Feb. 17.

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Amazon gets FAA approval for new delivery drone as it begins tests in Arizona

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Amazon gets FAA approval for new delivery drone as it begins tests in Arizona

Amazon said Tuesday it received regulatory approval to begin flying a smaller, quieter version of its delivery drone, the latest step in its long-running efforts to get the futuristic program off the ground.

The company unveiled the new drone, called the MK30, in November 2022. It said then that the MK30, in addition to the other changes, would fly through light rain and have twice the range of earlier models.

Amazon said the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval includes permission to fly the MK30 over longer distances and beyond the visual line of sight of pilots. The agency granted a similar waiver for Amazon’s Prime Air program in May, though that was limited to flights in College Station, Texas, one of the cities where it has been conducting tests.

Alongside the FAA approval, Matt McCardle, head of regulatory affairs for Prime Air, said the company is starting to make drone deliveries Tuesday near Phoenix, Arizona. In April, Amazon said it planned to spin up drone operations in Tolleson, a city west of Phoenix, after it shut down an earlier test site in Lockeford, California. The company will dispatch the drones near one of its warehouses in Tolleson as it looks to integrate Prime Air more closely into its existing logistics network and further speed up deliveries.

An FAA spokesperson said the agency granted Amazon permission to conduct beyond visual line of sight deliveries in Tolleson on Oct. 31.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first unveiled plans for the ambitious service more than a decade ago, remarking at the time that the program could be up and running within five years. Despite Amazon investing billions of dollars into the program, progress has been slow. Prime Air encountered regulatory hurdles, missed deadlines and had layoffs last year, coinciding with widespread cost-cutting efforts by CEO Andy Jassy. The program also lost some key executives, including its primary liaison with the FAA and its founding leader. Amazon hired former Boeing executive David Carbon to run the operation.

It’s also encountered pushback from some residents in the cities where it’s trialing drone deliveries. Residents in College Station complained about the noise levels enough that it prompted the city’s mayor to mention the concerns in a letter to the FAA, CNBC previously reported. In response, Amazon executives told residents the company would identify a new drone delivery launch site by October 2025.

Amazon isn’t the only company trying to crack delivery by drone. It’s competing with Wing, owned by Google parent Alphabet, UPS, Walmart and a host of startups including Zipline and Matternet.

WATCH: How Amazon’s drone delivery program stacks up to competitors

Amazon drones make 100th delivery, lagging far behind Alphabet's Wing and Walmart partner Zipline

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Palantir shares jump 23% to record on uplifting guidance

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Palantir shares jump 23% to record on uplifting guidance

Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp appears on a Bloomberg television interview during the FoundryCon event in Palo Alto, California, on March 7, 2024.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir shares jumped 23% on Tuesday and headed for a record close after the data analytics software maker reported robust third-quarter results and issued uplifting revenue guidance.

The stock reached a high of $51.19, above the prior record of $45.14 reached last week. If the gain holds, it will mark the stock’s biggest jump since Feb. 6, when shares popped 30%.

Revenue climbed 30% to $726 million from a year earlier, topping the $701 million average analyst estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share of 10 cents beat the 9-cent average estimate.

Analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a report that “the beat was driven by better-than-anticipated US Government performance,” boosted by demand for artificial intelligence tools.

“Palantir is among a handful of infrastructure software companies that have started to meaningfully monetize generative AI, where its competitive positioning benefits from longtime investment and deep expertise in complex data integration, and particularly its reputation for data security built into its ontology,” the analysts wrote.

Net income of $143.5 million, or 6 cents per share, was up from $71.5 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. The company called for fourth-quarter revenue of $767 million to $771 million. Analysts surveyed by LSEG had been looking for $741.4 million.

Palantir is targeting more than $687 million in U.S. commercial revenue for the year, implying about 24% of the total.

Bank of America bumped its price target from $50 to $55 and maintained its buy rating.

“We continue to view the adoption of PLTR’s AI-enabled products and reach in its early days, as more companies realize the time, resource, and cost savings possible,” Bank of America analysts wrote in a note to investors. “In our view, Palantir’s moat as the differentiated agnostic AI-enabler is only growing with each new use-case carrying compounding unit economics.”

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet and Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

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OpenAI hires Meta’s former Orion head to lead its robotics efforts

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OpenAI hires Meta's former Orion head to lead its robotics efforts

Jaap Arriens | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The former head of Meta’s Orion augmented reality glasses initiative has joined OpenAI to lead the startup’s robotics and consumer hardware efforts.

Caitlin “CK” Kalinowski announced her new role Monday in a post on LinkedIn and X, writing, “In my new role, I will initially focus on OpenAI’s robotics work and partnerships to help bring AI into the physical world and unlock its benefits for humanity.”

OpenAI has gained popularity for its viral chatbot, ChatGPT, but the hiring underscores its apparent efforts to move into building and selling hardware. Former Apple exec Jony Ive, who helped design some of Apple’s most iconic products from the iMac to the iPhone, has also partnered with OpenAI to create an AI device.

The announcement came the same day as that of OpenAI’s investment into Physical Intelligence, a robot startup based in San Francisco, which raised $400 million at a $2.4 billion post-money valuation. Other investors included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Thrive Capital, Lux Capital and Bond Capital.

The startup focuses on “bringing general-purpose AI into the physical world,” per its website, and it aims to do this by developing large-scale artificial intelligence models and algorithms to power robots. 

Before the new role at OpenAI, Kalinowski was a hardware executive at Meta for nearly two and a half years leading the company’s creation of Orion, previously codenamed Project Nazare, which it billed as “the most advanced pair of AR glasses ever made.” Meta unveiled its prototype glasses in September.

Before leading the Orion project, Kalinowski worked for more than nine years on virtual reality headsets at Meta-owned Oculus, and before that, nearly six years at Apple helping to design MacBooks, including Pro and Air models.

Kalinowski’s first day on the job at OpenAI is Tuesday, Nov. 5, per a LinkedIn post.

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