Obesity
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Obesity Care Startup Launches With $3M in Funding
Ilant Health launched out of stealth Tuesday. The company serves employers and payers and helps identify patients in need of obesity treatment and matches them to the care best for them.
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Structure Raises $300M as Oral GLP-1 Drug’s Data Keep Up With Pfizer, Eli Lilly
Preliminary weight loss and safety data for Structure Therapeutics’ drug candidate suggest it’s competitive with other oral GLP-1 targeting contenders from big pharma companies. The data are from a small study and a short time frame, but Structure was able to leverage the encouraging preliminary results into a private placement of securities.
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Jorie Healthcare CEO Shares Why Automation is Critical to Revenue Cycle Management
The revenue cycle management business is using AI tools to automate cumbersome tasks to help hospitals operate more efficiently. It’s beginning to attract the attention of major healthcare organizations.
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An Ounce of Prevention Isn’t Enough To Treat Obesity
If we want to support people with obesity, the weight loss debate must stop conflating obesity prevention with obesity treatment. Instead, we should focus on the tools that best solve the needs of people where they are – just as we would for cancer or diabetes – by making the most effective treatments possible available.
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Report: Weight Loss Drugs Cost Significantly More for Americans than Peer Countries
A new KFF analysis compared list prices for Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus and Mounjaro. It found that the U.S. has much higher list prices for these drugs than other peer countries while also having the highest rate of obesity.
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Novo Nordisk Aims to Succeed Where Sanofi Faltered Drugging a Weight-Loss Target
Novo Nordisk isn’t putting all of its weight loss drug hopes in the same basket. Its acquisition of Inversago Pharma for up to $1 billion will bring a biotech whose lead drug candidate has early clinical trial data showing significant weight loss.
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Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy Posts Trial Data Supporting the Drug as Way to Lower Heart Risks
Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of major cardiovascular events by 20% in a large clinical trial. The company said the results support expanding the drug’s label, but the looming question is whether the data will persuade payers to cover the pricey chronic therapy.
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Devices & Diagnostics, Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma
Newly Public Allurion Aims to Show How Med Tech Can Complement Obesity Drugs
Allurion Technologies has commercialized a gastric balloon in the form of a pill that patients swallow. But the weight loss platform from the now NYSE-listed company also includes AI-driven software that provides insights about a patient’s progress, technology with the potential for use alongside obesity drugs.
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Consumer / Employer, Health Tech
Hello Alpha Unveils Female-focused Weight Management Program for Employers
Hello Alpha launched Ahead with Alpha, a weight management program for employers. It offers access to primary care providers trained in obesity care, medication management through weight loss drugs like GLP-1s, nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian and progress tracking.
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Navigating Healthcare’s Data Revolution: Priorities, Opportunities, and Challenges for Health Systems
Arcadia recently partnered with HIMSS Market Insights to survey executives, IT, technology, and clinical leaders. Here’s what we found.
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Coalition Applauds Reintroduction of Obesity Treatment Bill, Urges Passage
The Treat and Reduce Obesity Act would expand Medicare coverage for obesity screenings, treatments and therapies like anti-obesity medications. The Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease came out in favor of the bill and asked for swift passage.
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Alfie Health Raises $2.1M for AI-powered Weight Loss Platform
Alfie Health’s $2.1 million seed funding was led by Y Combinator and Nina Capital. It included participation from Goodwater Capital, Phoenix Investment Club and several angel investors.
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In the GLP-1 Era, Clinical Guidelines for Obesity Care Are Urgently Needed
While the attention GLP-1s are receiving is exciting for medical professionals like me who’ve specialized in obesity treatment for decades, with little fanfare, the ‘miracle drug’ message is misleading and harmful.
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Why Medicare Should Treat Obesity as a Disease
Medicare is failing its beneficiaries by not treating obesity as a disease. Just like people with high blood pressure often need to take medications to avoid disease-related complications, people with obesity need access to all appropriate, evidence-based therapies to combat the disease.
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Consumer / Employer, Health Tech
Omada Launches Program To Support Patients on GLP-1s
Omada’s new program provides coaching, peer support and educational materials to patients struggling with chronic obesity and taking GLP-1s. The company chose not to prescribe the weight loss drugs itself.
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Consumer / Employer, Health Tech
Found Launches Employer-focused Obesity Care Program
Found for Business is an evidence-based obesity care program that prescribes 13 different medications (including GLP-1s) in 60 different combinations. It combines the medication with support from providers, coaching and an app that offers meal and activity tracking.