Alexa vs Siri
Amazon recently announced that snarky Alexa is now HIPAA-complaint meaning she can now be a patient’s healthcare coach. So besides being able to order more Tide a patient will be able to ask Alexa “What’s my blood sugar?” Invariably we can envision Alexa not just answering the blood sugar question but offering tips to the patient on how they can better manage their diabetes. We also imagine that Siri and the...
Ignorance and Arrogance
Since there is never a dull moment in our wacky world let’s not waste any time and get right too it. First on the list comes this piece of news on the CGM front, per a company issued press release; “WaveForm Technologies Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of AgaMatrix Holdings LLC and developer of novel products for continuous glucose monitoring, and A. Menarini Diagnostics S.r.l., a leading diagnostics company, today announced a...
What we are learning
We have known from the beginning that this brouhaha over the “high” out of pocket cost of insulin was an issue that was being somewhat blown out of proportion. To fully appreciate this take a look at the recent decision by Cigna to limit co-pays for insulin to just $25 per month. Per a post on the CNBC web site; “Health insurer Cigna is lowering the out-of-pocket cost of insulin for...
Mahalo Aloha Capital Management
Well it seems as though the rumors we have heard about Medtronic selling their diabetes franchise to a private equity group are true. While the terms of the transaction are still not final and as with all deals until the ink is dry nothing is set in concrete. Here is what we know so far: 1. Aloha Capital Management is the lead private equity group. We endeavored to reach out to...
How the game is played
After more than 20 years in this wacky world we have seen our fair share of shenanigans. We have seen first hand how stocks can be manipulated, how information is misconstrued and how there are times when companies willingly participate in this game for their own personal benefit. As with most things in our wacky world this is all about money but when it comes to investing it’s about one...
We ain’t stupid
We’re not exactly sure what a PR person does but in our wacky world but they are doing it very badly. When the bruhaha over the high out of pocket of insulin began the insulin companies missed an opportunity to explain themselves, allowed the narrative to be determined for them and as we noted it had no choice but to play defense. Not sure exactly what they were thinking but...
Nothing new here
Three notable events occurred during the weekend and none of them are really all that notable, more like expected. Friday in a move that should surprise no one the FDA rejected sotagliflozin confirming once more when it comes to diabetes Sanofi has the reverse Midas touch. Even if the FDA had approved the drug it really didn’t have much of a future and would have done little to offset what...
All in ….
Wednesday Novo Nordisk put all their chips on the table submitting the oral version of semaglutide to the FDA using a priority voucher. If as we expect the FDA approves the drug it will set up one of the most important drug launches in the company’s history. Many analysts believe that as the first oral GLP-1 this is a slam dunk for Novo providing the blockbuster product the company desperately...
Alexa has found a partner
Of all the high-tech cash rich companies making the deep dive into diabetes Amazon is making the biggest splash. Unlike OnDuo, the Verily/Sanofi partnership, Amazon isn’t screwing around with payors and is going direct to the patient. The company took a big step in that direction when they announced they are now offering the OneDrop app as part of their diabetes dive. Per a post on HealthCare IT News; “Digital health company...
What a long strange trip ….
This morning while doing our normal web surfing we came across this piece of news; “Since earning FDA clearance for its automated glucose monitoring system in 2017, OptiScan has introduced the device to select hospitals in the U.S. and Europe. Now, the company has raised $20 million in series E financing for a broader rollout of the system and to expand its platform to measure analytes other than glucose.” Now we must...