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Post by sportsrancho on Dec 14, 2020 23:07:22 GMT -5
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Post by sportsrancho on May 3, 2021 13:32:24 GMT -5
✨Thoughts from Bill....
“ I believe you can find great opportunities, take a little risk to realize them, and then make money honestly. That where we are with Vdex. We still have struggles but that’s entrepreneurship. It’s stressful at times. But money isn’t in my thinking, making a difference is. And I know if we do our job well the money will take care of itself.
I’m 100%CERTAIN WE CAN MAKE AFREZZA A MONSTER DRUG. Will there be setbacks and more struggles? Yes of course. But we will overcome bc the drug is that good and the Vdex people are committed. And we’re starting to get others to believe.
Final point: if this were easy it’d have already been done. We have to fight and never quit.”
~Bill McCullough, CEO of VDEX
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Post by sportsrancho on May 12, 2021 20:28:37 GMT -5
From Bill...
“ Ok so stepping back from all this, the obvious conclusion is what MNKD is doing isn’t working. That’s clear. Of course we’ve known that for a few years now but even if MC is reluctant he must admit this now. So, what’s the new plan?
There’s no shame in having a plan fail. That happens all the times with entrepreneurs. The shame comes when one is unable/unwilling to acknowledge it AND make a change. This is what I was saying 3years ago. MNKD can’t sell Afrezza the way it’s trying to.
MC should be looking at new, innovative solutions. Instead he’s recycling old advertising plans which already failed. The result will be more failure.
Afrezza has a “stink” on it as a result of poor dosing which causes unimpressive outcomes. Couple that with failing sales numbers and the industry dismisses the drug.
In a video a couple years ago I advocated building from success. Restrict sales to patients who will be properly dosed (Vdex or otherwise) once you get success stories you add to them. By selling the drug broadly you ACCELERATE THE BAD OUTCOMES. This is exactly the opposite of what the company should be doing. Better to have no sales than poor outcomes.”
~Bill McCullough
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Post by cretin11 on May 12, 2021 21:00:27 GMT -5
Bill was right three years ago. Some folks here didn’t like his approach back then, and they held it against him. Nobody can deny he’s right now. Or at least nobody who is being rational.
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Post by sportsrancho on Jun 11, 2021 22:42:17 GMT -5
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Post by sportsrancho on Jun 24, 2021 9:05:29 GMT -5
First… We would like to announce the partnership with HealthClix! It’s on the Vdex’s social media thread.
Second I would like to continue the conversation about why the patients say Afrezza isn’t working. I could copy and paste over 30 posts a month that I see from patients on private Facebook threads. I had someone private message me last night on Facebook with a long explanation of what he had tried and why he didn’t think it was working. He wanted our help.
So this is part of Bill’s response….
“LeAnne I’ve heard the same things you have. Real world experience is critical bc the instructions on the box don’t get it quite right. There’s conservatism built into those instructions. That’s a problem bc, if anything, one needs to be MORE AGGRESSIVE to get best results from it.
Ok there’s lots to say here but I’ll be brief: He writes that he’s taking before a meal. Wrong! Best to take AFTER STARTING. Perferably 15-20 min after starting. Taking early is a mistake many many people make bc that is how prandial insulin is usually dosed.
He says he had to eat choc and cappuccino to prevent a hypo. Wrong! He only thinks that. Quite likely if he hadn’t eaten his BG would have bottomed out before becoming hypo. Without more details it’s impossible to know for sure. Generally Afrezza causes BG to drop rapidly but it bottoms out pretty quickly. People need to it assume rate of drop will continue. They get spooked and eat “to prevent a hypo.” Truth is that hypo probably wouldn’t have occurred.
Afrezza doesn’t stop working. What happens is people dose too soon so it’s gone by the time the meal kicks in. Whenever u hear “Afrezza stopped working” substitute the phrase “the patient doesn’t know what he’s doing “
“It may be true outside of Vdex. It is not the reps fault though I don’t think anyone can “sell” afrezza . It is time consuming for the provider unless it is your speciality like Vdex. Otherwise no will give it attention because it is not about patient care as much as how many patients can I see and 100 yrs of why not insulin. You have a game changer like Afrezza it takes a grassroots movement of people aka Vdex thinking outside the box and looking at the medical industry with fresh eyes. That is what makes historic changes.”
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Post by mcbone on Jun 24, 2021 9:15:15 GMT -5
Great post LeAnne. I hope that MC will team up with VDEX or at least try to implement some of this valuable information to grow Afrezza.
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Post by barnstormer on Jun 24, 2021 9:16:11 GMT -5
Congratulations LA & VDEX on the new partnership with HealthClix. It just gives more credibility to the VDEX model. I see HealthClix will be offering spirometry testing soon to support Afrezza. I wonder if they support the Senseonics CGM to complement their remote monitoring of patients. What a combination that would be.
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Post by cretin11 on Jun 24, 2021 9:46:22 GMT -5
Great post LeAnne. I hope that MC will team up with VDEX or at least try to implement some of this valuable information to grow Afrezza. Exactly. Preach it Bill! Sports, thanks so much for sharing that perspective that is spot on. |
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Post by morfu on Jun 24, 2021 12:21:10 GMT -5
He says: give Afreza out for free, dont worry about insurance for now, we are better than everybody else and make me a board member?
Well, again beside your/his shameless advertising for a different company, Mannkind is doing quite well with a more traditional approach! The 90% drop rate cited in that video could be related to the poor coverage for Afrezza at the beginning, I doubt this number is still true!
Whatever Mannkind is doing right now let to a solid increase in numbers over the last two years, there is no reason to change strategies.
Vdex numbers are a big secret, Bill can claim whatever he wants with it, but even if the are true, I am of the opinion, that this advantage might be temporary, since more and more patients learn how properly dose Afrezza without Vdex and they will loose in future competition, since they are more expensive. What skill Bill would add to the board beside "give Afrezza out for free and my clinics an unfair advantage"?
Sportsracho´s FB story seems to prove an old point I made against VDex business model as a long term strategy:
>> more and more patients learn how properly dose Afrezza without Vdex
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Post by sportsrancho on Jun 24, 2021 12:36:48 GMT -5
Well we hope they do or we wouldn’t be talking about it and answering questions.
I personally have a sense of urgency, and so do some of the long-term early adopter patients I’ve talked to. Keeping Afrezza on the market is the priority.
Bill said earlier this morning he’d have a little more to say on dozing.
Right now I’m busy hooking up patient’s to telehealth:-)👍🏻❣️I’ll answer questions later…The SENS idea etc.
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Post by mytakeonit on Jun 24, 2021 14:15:41 GMT -5
As I said from the beginning ... I don't have a problem with Bill and VDEX. I hope he becomes profitable, expands all across the country, and sell all the Afrezza possible. Sounds like he is well on his way ...
But, that's mytakeonit
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Post by sayhey24 on Jun 24, 2021 14:27:11 GMT -5
Well we hope they do or we wouldn’t be talking about it and answering questions. I personally have a sense of urgency, and so do some of the long-term early adopter patients I’ve talked to. Keeping Afrezza on the market is the priority. Bill said earlier this morning he’d have a little more to say on dozing. Right now I’m busy hooking up patient’s to telehealth:-)👍🏻❣️I’ll answer questions later…The SENS idea etc. The Sens idea would be great. So would a deal with Dachis and his Sano sensor. Sano is not going to need FDA approval for the sensor. |
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Post by cretin11 on Jun 24, 2021 16:57:26 GMT -5
As I said from the beginning ... I don't have a problem with Bill and VDEX. I hope he becomes profitable, expands all across the country, and sell all the Afrezza possible. Sounds like he is well on his way ... But, that's mytakeonit Glad you have come around in your thinking on this, MTOI. That’s the correct mindset to have on VDEX. |
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Post by mango on Jun 24, 2021 17:47:57 GMT -5
He says: give Afreza out for free, dont worry about insurance for now, we are better than everybody else and make me a board member?
Well, again beside your/his shameless advertising for a different company, Mannkind is doing quite well with a more traditional approach! The 90% drop rate cited in that video could be related to the poor coverage for Afrezza at the beginning, I doubt this number is still true!
Whatever Mannkind is doing right now let to a solid increase in numbers over the last two years, there is no reason to change strategies.
Vdex numbers are a big secret, Bill can claim whatever he wants with it, but even if the are true, I am of the opinion, that this advantage might be temporary, since more and more patients learn how properly dose Afrezza without Vdex and they will loose in future competition, since they are more expensive. What skill Bill would add to the board beside "give Afrezza out for free and my clinics an unfair advantage"?
Sportsracho´s FB story seems to prove an old point I made against VDex business model as a long term strategy:
>> more and more patients learn how properly dose Afrezza without Vdex
Are we really going here again? The demonstrated benefit of PWD going the Vdex route versus the traditional Endo or PC route is obvious—they receive significantly better care and achieve significantly better results. PWD cannot receive personalize care at the local Endo or primary care clinic like they can at Vdex. Even if the patient figured out how to properly dose Afrezza on his/her on (certainly won’t by following the label instructions), then that just underscores even MORE why we need Vdex. Even more is the fact that in the latest White Paper Vdex disclosed some remarkable data: Average starting HbA1c: 10.4 Average lowest HbA1c attained: 6.6 Total drop in HbA1c: 3.8 in about 104 days. That is significant. All done using Afrezza through Vdex. Also something else pretty remarkable worth mentioning from the report is: While these gross numbers are impressive, perhaps more impressive is that 72% of patients attained an HbA1c of 7 or below. Majority of PWD don’t reach that level, which is set by ADA, and is actually still much too high as it is still in the red zone for microvascular damage, oxidative stress and so on. Vdex goes beyond the proven treat to failure protocols of ADA, which is what all Endo clinics and Primary Care clinics use. |
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