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Post by Chris-C on Aug 29, 2016 14:18:58 GMT -5
kc I totally agree with your assessment and comments. I think last Fall's plateau in the script numbers confirms what the former SNY sales rep testified. In my mind, his testimony and the script trajectory provide a fairly compelling smoking gun that seems to support what many others on this board have surmised. An interesting legal question is this: At what point in an agreement can the party with the obligation to market and sell a drug be "held harmless" a for less than good faith effort? On a completely different note, I think Rose Alinaya might be wise to take a hint from Matt's comment about her assuming a bigger role. When a CEO makes a comment like that, verbum sapienti satis est. (Who wants to tell her?) 
GLTA
Chris C
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Post by mnholdem on Aug 29, 2016 14:36:34 GMT -5
I've been addressing almost all my IR-related questions to Rose for quite some time now. Matt made it clear when he took the CEO job that even though he would also be continuing to wear his CFO hat, the responsibility of the Investor Relationship Department was being handed to Rose. The only time I bother Matt is to alert him to legal issues (such as the potential patent infringement in a recent application by Sansa Corporation (Barbados) Inc.) or Mike with website (corporate and/or Afrezza) related questions. Rose usually replies promptly. I say "usually" because sometimes she may have to check something out OR it simply could be a busy day with financials... but she has always replied to my emails within 24 hours.
Bottom line is that I think that management is doing a much better job of responding to shareholders in 2016 than they have in previous years. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2016 19:34:03 GMT -5
I've been addressing almost all my IR-related questions to Rose for quite some time now. Matt made it clear when he took the CEO job that even though he would also be continuing to wear his CFO hat, the responsibility of the Investor Relationship Department was being handed to Rose. The only time I bother Matt is to alert him to legal issues (such as the potential patent infringement in a recent application by Sansa Corporation (Barbados) Inc.) or Mike with website (corporate and/or Afrezza) related questions. Rose usually replies promptly. I say "usually" because sometimes she may have to check something out OR it simply could be a busy day with financials... but she has always replied to my emails within 24 hours.
Bottom line is that I think that management is doing a much better job of responding to shareholders in 2016 than they have in previous years. And is it reasonable that during this challenging time, they are all putting in at least 12 hours a day if not more and perhaps time on the weekends too. Rose was responsive to a question I had some time ago. Hopefully we see some nice progress in a few weeks. Everyones spirits and energy would get lifted a bit. |
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Post by mnkdfann on Aug 30, 2016 2:19:01 GMT -5
Bottom line is that I think that management is doing a much better job of responding to shareholders in 2016 than they have in previous years.
Castagna responded to LFD's latest SeekingAlpha article. See the comment by castagna2011 dated '30 Aug 2016, 01:52 AM' at this link: seekingalpha.com/article/4002856-mannkind-curtain-drawn-microphone-placeManagement is on the ball. |
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Post by parrerob on Aug 30, 2016 3:13:39 GMT -5
I don't think He is the real Castagna..... And honestly I hope He is not.... spending time on SA responding to LFD ? |
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Post by esstan2001 on Aug 30, 2016 8:05:47 GMT -5
Bottom line is that I think that management is doing a much better job of responding to shareholders in 2016 than they have in previous years.
Castagna responded to LFD's latest SeekingAlpha article. See the comment by castagna2011 dated '30 Aug 2016, 01:52 AM' at this link: seekingalpha.com/article/4002856-mannkind-curtain-drawn-microphone-placeManagement is on the ball. Mike's reply post needs to be seen. A real thing of beauty... castagna2011 Comments (1) |+ Follow |Send Message Dear Diogenes, Almost 70% of diabetics are not at goal, this is something we need to focus on. As you may or may not know over 200 people with diabetes a day get amputations and ~6 people with diabetes an hour start dialysis because they haven't been able to control their blood sugars for a long time (http://tinyurl.com/zvs...). Now that you understand we are talking about a real disease with real challenges, I would like to highlight some issues with your article: 1) When you want to compare sales rep impact, don't compare and apple to an orange. Your analysis looks at a rep who has been in a territory calling on a doctor for 9+ months and you are comparing to a time period when we didn't even have a sales force present post the ADA meeting and then attempting to make conclusions about their impact. I would suggest you see what the impact our reps have after 9 months of calling on their customers before you say they are ineffective or have an low ROI. 2) Our sales force started the first week of July, mid-year when many lunch appointments were already booked. I am very proud my team has been able to stop an almost 12 month decline in NRx in less than 4 weeks of being in the field and demonstrate growth in NRx during the month of August despite a Medicare/Medicaid challenge. Don't forget for every rep we had, Sanofi had ~7-10 reps in a territory,therefore their NRx per rep would even be less than ours and we are doing this a fraction of the cost and have been making an immediate impact. We have had almost 200 new trialists who wrote their first Afrezza Rx in the last 13 weeks and have had a significant number of sample and copay card requests via our website in the last 4 weeks. These are programs we stated were launching in August and most have only landed in our sales reps hands in the last 3 weeks. 3) I joined MannKind <5 months ago and I would ask you to find a company or team who launched a fully integrated commercial team, built distribution capabilities, managed a smooth inventory transition across 80 distribution centers with new NDCs and built a new marketing campaign along with all the field tools to go with a launch in <90 days. This has to be a record for any company in this industry. I have been doing this a long time and companies spend tens of millions of dollars, a lot more people and 12+ months of planning. 4) While ADA was important for us to meet thought leaders, build international relationships and showcase our new data, this was the foundation of information that is required for us to file for a label change. This is not information our field team can use immediately, so I wouldn't expect an impact from this. I wish more doctors had time to read and review our publications as well as the ADA data as they would then understand our brand and likely prescribe it for even more patients. 5) Please note the significant number of NRx that were previously generated in 2015 rarely converted to refills week after week. Our focus is on making sure patients start appropriately and stay on our product. The strategy between MannKind and Sanofi are completely different and while I understand generating NRx's are important, it is more important we keep patients on our product once we get them and that is a big focus of ours. Everyone understands the beauty of compounding growth versus single hits. Finally, regarding what Matt may or may not have said about the payor space is in the past. We have deep expertise in this area and are focused on removing barriers for patients to get access to our product. Afrezza has not had a price increase in 2 years, but many insurance companies still penalize patients by putting us on a higher copay/tier despite us holding the price of this product. We know the payor space well and unfortunately these things take time to make changes and I am confident we will share our value proposition with our payor colleagues and enhance access to Afrezza. However, at the current time we have created a reimbursement center to help patients get access to our product as efficiently as possible. It should also be noted that we have significant coverage for commercial plans, but Medicare is a challenge which is ironic because these are government insured patients/voters and the price increases in the insulin market are being paid for by all of us as taxpayers given this is the #1 expense category for payors and healthplans. We should be demanding Medicare open up access for Afrezza so that we can give patients another option that can help them control their disease. In the future, I hope you find time to write about why insurance companies and Medicare plans are restricting patients access to a product that hasn't taken price increase and in effect are driving up patients out of pocket costs as well as our tax bills and how this prevents patients from getting access to our brand as they attempt to get their disease under control. I joined this company because I know we will help patients and we serve an unmet need every single day. I get story after story of how our product changed the life of a person living with the disease, a spouse who got their husband back or parent who has more comfort that their college kid can control their disease without having their insulin pump attached to them. I recognize the financial situation of the company and the job of good leaders is to make the right short and long term decisions to grow and sustain. If anyone reacts to 1 week of NRx they are short sighted. This company has survived many doom and gloom reports all the way back to 2005. We finally have our brand FDA approved, in our hands and we will ensure we make Al Mann's vision a reality |
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Post by bearcatmax on Aug 30, 2016 8:14:02 GMT -5
If it is the real Castagna the guy is working his tail off. He must go through coffee like no other. Wonder if he sleeps?
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Post by dictatorsaurus on Aug 30, 2016 8:21:22 GMT -5
I don't think He is the real Castagna..... And honestly I hope He is not.... spending time on SA responding to LFD ? Damned if you do and damned if you don't! |
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Post by otherottawaguy on Aug 30, 2016 8:56:51 GMT -5
Same User Id that is used here and has been confirmed as him.
OOG |
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Post by mnholdem on Aug 30, 2016 9:20:10 GMT -5
It's about time the company stands up to media pundits who mislead investors with falsehoods or half-truths, IMHO.
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Post by heymate on Aug 30, 2016 9:42:53 GMT -5
It's about time the company stands up to media pundits who mislead investors with falsehoods or half-truths, IMHO. Dangerous territory I would think. A "slip of the tongue" or a misspoken word and it can't be called back, and everyone will presume he's speaking for the whole company. Better to issue well thought out press releases -- reaches more investors and less chance of error. |
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Post by peppy on Aug 30, 2016 9:58:24 GMT -5
Mike's reply post needs to be seen. A real thing of beauty... castagna2011 Comments (1) |+ Follow |Send Message Dear Diogenes, Almost 70% of diabetics are not at goal, this is something we need to focus on. As you may or may not know over 200 people with diabetes a day get amputations and ~6 people with diabetes an hour start dialysis because they haven't been able to control their blood sugars for a long time (http://tinyurl.com/zvs...). Now that you understand we are talking about a real disease with real challenges, I would like to highlight some issues with your article: 1) When you want to compare sales rep impact, don't compare and apple to an orange. Your analysis looks at a rep who has been in a territory calling on a doctor for 9+ months and you are comparing to a time period when we didn't even have a sales force present post the ADA meeting and then attempting to make conclusions about their impact. I would suggest you see what the impact our reps have after 9 months of calling on their customers before you say they are ineffective or have an low ROI. 2) Our sales force started the first week of July, mid-year when many lunch appointments were already booked. I am very proud my team has been able to stop an almost 12 month decline in NRx in less than 4 weeks of being in the field and demonstrate growth in NRx during the month of August despite a Medicare/Medicaid challenge. Don't forget for every rep we had, Sanofi had ~7-10 reps in a territory,therefore their NRx per rep would even be less than ours and we are doing this a fraction of the cost and have been making an immediate impact. We have had almost 200 new trialists who wrote their first Afrezza Rx in the last 13 weeks and have had a significant number of sample and copay card requests via our website in the last 4 weeks. These are programs we stated were launching in August and most have only landed in our sales reps hands in the last 3 weeks. 3) I joined MannKind <5 months ago and I would ask you to find a company or team who launched a fully integrated commercial team, built distribution capabilities, managed a smooth inventory transition across 80 distribution centers with new NDCs and built a new marketing campaign along with all the field tools to go with a launch in <90 days. This has to be a record for any company in this industry. I have been doing this a long time and companies spend tens of millions of dollars, a lot more people and 12+ months of planning. 4) While ADA was important for us to meet thought leaders, build international relationships and showcase our new data, this was the foundation of information that is required for us to file for a label change. This is not information our field team can use immediately, so I wouldn't expect an impact from this. I wish more doctors had time to read and review our publications as well as the ADA data as they would then understand our brand and likely prescribe it for even more patients. 5) Please note the significant number of NRx that were previously generated in 2015 rarely converted to refills week after week. Our focus is on making sure patients start appropriately and stay on our product. The strategy between MannKind and Sanofi are completely different and while I understand generating NRx's are important, it is more important we keep patients on our product once we get them and that is a big focus of ours. Everyone understands the beauty of compounding growth versus single hits. Finally, regarding what Matt may or may not have said about the payor space is in the past. We have deep expertise in this area and are focused on removing barriers for patients to get access to our product. Afrezza has not had a price increase in 2 years, but many insurance companies still penalize patients by putting us on a higher copay/tier despite us holding the price of this product. We know the payor space well and unfortunately these things take time to make changes and I am confident we will share our value proposition with our payor colleagues and enhance access to Afrezza. However, at the current time we have created a reimbursement center to help patients get access to our product as efficiently as possible. It should also be noted that we have significant coverage for commercial plans, but Medicare is a challenge which is ironic because these are government insured patients/voters and the price increases in the insulin market are being paid for by all of us as taxpayers given this is the #1 expense category for payors and healthplans. We should be demanding Medicare open up access for Afrezza so that we can give patients another option that can help them control their disease. In the future, I hope you find time to write about why insurance companies and Medicare plans are restricting patients access to a product that hasn't taken price increase and in effect are driving up patients out of pocket costs as well as our tax bills and how this prevents patients from getting access to our brand as they attempt to get their disease under control. I joined this company because I know we will help patients and we serve an unmet need every single day. I get story after story of how our product changed the life of a person living with the disease, a spouse who got their husband back or parent who has more comfort that their college kid can control their disease without having their insulin pump attached to them. I recognize the financial situation of the company and the job of good leaders is to make the right short and long term decisions to grow and sustain. If anyone reacts to 1 week of NRx they are short sighted. This company has survived many doom and gloom reports all the way back to 2005. We finally have our brand FDA approved, in our hands and we will ensure we make Al Mann's vision a reality I like Mike. I hope seeking alpha posts his reply.
This is good news; We have had almost 200 new trialists who wrote their first Afrezza Rx in the last 13 weeks and have had a significant number of sample and copay card requests via our website in the last 4 weeks
I hope their patients like it. #freedom
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Post by madog365 on Aug 30, 2016 10:03:19 GMT -5
It's about time the company stands up to media pundits who mislead investors with falsehoods or half-truths, IMHO. Dangerous territory I would think. A "slip of the tongue" or a misspoken word and it can't be called back, and everyone will presume he's speaking for the whole company. Better to issue well thought out press releases -- reaches more investors and less chance of error. I think at this point he has become one of us, a disillusioned and frustrated investor. Something that Matt has done a good job of avoiding due to his long term experience with MNKD and relationship with Al Mann - who he watched invest his blood sweat and tears (and a lot of money) into the success of this company. All Mike can see is the positives of a transformational drug that can help millions of diabetics. What he's missing is the fact that this company has been under attack for years by short sellers, and that unquantifiable and immaterial results (even though they may seem positive) will not do anything for the share price when there is big money out there that wants to see this company bankrupt, regardless of the positive effect Afrezza will bring to many. So now he is taking his frustration out on the small time bloggers who peddle negative nonsense about Mannkind daily. At the end of the day these bloggers have no actual effect on MNKD and no retail, hedge fund, or institutional investors listen to a word they write. All that to make the point that i agree that no matter how frustrated he becomes, a executive at a company should not resort to commenting on message boards. It's just not a good look. |
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Post by factspls88 on Aug 30, 2016 10:29:04 GMT -5
I would also like to hear about the status of label changes (ultra rapid, fewer hypos). To me those are critical components of Afrezza's differentiation and superiority vs. competitors. And while they're at it, I would love to see them negotiate away the spirometry requirement, though that is probably a pipe dream.
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Post by goyocafe on Aug 30, 2016 10:33:06 GMT -5
I would also like to hear about the status of label changes (ultra rapid, fewer hypos). To me those are critical components of Afrezza's differentiation and superiority vs. competitors. And while they're at it, I would love to see them negotiate away the spirometry requirement, though that is probably a pipe dream. Or have the FDA impose a skin sensitivity test for anyone needing a shot to make sure they aren't going to react negatively to injections. Keep the playing field fair... |
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