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Post by mango on Jan 3, 2019 15:12:02 GMT -5
In answer to the Vdex questions....from Bill . Sayhey is correct, I'm not a doctor and that's an advantage because I'm not encumbered by the "doctor mindset." That mindset is best characterized by a oft-mentioned piece of advice most medical students are given:"Be not the first to try something new, nor the last the abandon the old." Further, docs are notoriously risk-averse and they will avoid something new especially if they perceive it as more risky. While the MannKind Board may have two physicians on it, I suspect (but don't really know) that they don't practice medicine. Further, I question how much experience they have with diabetes. Regardless of Friedman and Shannon, the real question is, Are we happy with the performance of the company? If you are, then don't vote me on the board. I intend to push for change. I've lost 98% of the value of my investment so I'm not happy. Almost any change appeals to me. More of the same just means I lose the other 2%. Others may not agree; they may be ok with losing 98% of their investment. We never committed to having a set number of clinics by a certain time. But, in truth, there was quite a learning curve in what we are doing. There was no roadmap to follow. It has taken us longer than we like, but through this experience we have learned how to get Afrezza prescribed and paid for, and how to get the best results using it. MannKind likely cannot open its own clinics. Vertical integration in healthcare is highly regulated and fraught with legal peril. MNKD can partner with us in different ways so that Vdex can expand more quickly. This is timely since MNKD needs successful script writing and Vdex has proven it can do it. Wow. I hope this happens!
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Post by rockstarrick on Jan 3, 2019 15:21:17 GMT -5
In answer to the Vdex questions....from Bill . Sayhey is correct, I'm not a doctor and that's an advantage because I'm not encumbered by the "doctor mindset." That mindset is best characterized by a oft-mentioned piece of advice most medical students are given:"Be not the first to try something new, nor the last the abandon the old." Further, docs are notoriously risk-averse and they will avoid something new especially if they perceive it as more risky. While the MannKind Board may have two physicians on it, I suspect (but don't really know) that they don't practice medicine. Further, I question how much experience they have with diabetes. Regardless of Friedman and Shannon, the real question is, Are we happy with the performance of the company? If you are, then don't vote me on the board. I intend to push for change. I've lost 98% of the value of my investment so I'm not happy. Almost any change appeals to me. More of the same just means I lose the other 2%. Others may not agree; they may be ok with losing 98% of their investment. We never committed to having a set number of clinics by a certain time. But, in truth, there was quite a learning curve in what we are doing. There was no roadmap to follow. It has taken us longer than we like, but through this experience we have learned how to get Afrezza prescribed and paid for, and how to get the best results using it. MannKind likely cannot open its own clinics. Vertical integration in healthcare is highly regulated and fraught with legal peril. MNKD can partner with us in different ways so that Vdex can expand more quickly. This is timely since MNKD needs successful script writing and Vdex has proven it can do it. Wow. I hope this happens! although he may be close, I don’t know why this guy would assume everybody is down 98%, as that is not the case, not here anyway. Good luck with getting your position. I appreciate all you’ve done to help. 😎
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Post by uvula on Jan 3, 2019 15:26:04 GMT -5
I'm only down 91%. I guess I'm a better investor than he is.
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Post by sportsrancho on Jan 3, 2019 15:35:50 GMT -5
I’ll be posting some new exceptionally exciting data in the next few hours. You guys will be the first ones to see it.
Like you’ve heard me say before when you’re at Vdex it’s like having a personal trainer for your diabetes, you have to give someone the tools and guide them like the first time they are on a bike until they’re ready to take the training wheels off. A few short weeks and they’ve got it. Not only are the results amazing, Vdex does the insurance billing ..they see the results and get granted the insurance. Almost everyone they put on Afrezza stays on Afrezza. There’s no one saying Afrezza doesn’t work for me. Or I just use it for corrections. When people start out they don’t know how to hold the inhaler, they don’t know how long to hold their breath, when they do inhale they’re afraid of going low. Some people like my clients son Jake just get it right off the bat. Others need an empathetic coach. Diabetes is hard, it’s scary, and you want to feel cared about! This is what Al meant when he said put the patient first.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2019 16:40:38 GMT -5
I’ll be posting some new exceptionally exciting data in the next few hours. You guys will be the first ones to see it. Like you’ve heard me say before when you’re at Vdex it’s like having a personal trainer for your diabetes, you have to give someone the tools and guide them like the first time they are on a bike until they’re ready to take the training wheels off. A few short weeks and they’ve got it. Not only are the results amazing, Vdex does the insurance billing ..they see the results and get granted the insurance. Almost everyone they put on Afrezza stays on Afrezza. There’s no one saying Afrezza doesn’t work for me. Or I just use it for corrections. When people start out they don’t know how to hold the inhaler, they don’t know how long to hold their breath, when they do inhale they’re afraid of going low. Some people like my clients son Jake just get it right off the bat. Others need an empathetic coach. Diabetes is hard, it’s scary, and you want to feel cared about! This is what Al meant when he said put the patient first. Sports, has Bill directly contacted the CEOs of any of the insurance companies where he has their patients on Afrezza? We are still in a fee for service world but that's changing and as I have said many times, the cost of Afrezza is chump change compared to the reductions of long term health complications and associated costs. Wonder if Bill is thinking of doing a store in a store concept, ie opening VDex within an existing clinic kind of like the Ralph Lauren shop inside of Macy's. Whole Foods apparently is considering a significant expansion and since its owned by Amazon the possibilities for pharmacy are endless. In addition, I believe you don't need an Rx for insulin, but need the Rx for insurance reimbursement. Not sure if you need an Rx to have insulin dispensed but given Amazon owns PillPak, a patient at Whole Foods could speak with a pharmacist on a monitor and get Afrezza via mail / UPS. AWS can warehouse diabetic patient BG data to demonstrate compliance and time in range to the health insurer. Amazon paid over $1B for PillPak which is nuts but they have bigger plans. If VDex can show is gets diabetic patients to compliance very quickly where others have failed then the brick and mortar portion is a waste of time and capital. The process is where the value lies. BTW, I also spoke some time ago about a low priced Dexcom sensor and its arriving a bit later than I thought, 2020 according to this article. diatribe.org/whats-coming-dexcom-2020-low-cost-slimmer-fully-disposable-cgmMy sources say Verily gives Dex the first $1B in the relationship as Verily knows the value of the data will be massive. If your boy Bill can come up with the right partner, he will never see the inside of a commercial aircraft again.
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Post by mytakeonit on Jan 3, 2019 17:03:56 GMT -5
Down 98% Considers it a loss? Does that mean that he sold those shares? If not and he still has those shares ... then today's share price of $1.14 is his 2%. Which means that his original cost is $1.14/.02 = $57 per share. Wow! No wonder he's pissed !
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Post by mnkdfann on Jan 3, 2019 17:07:13 GMT -5
Down 98% Considers it a loss? Does that mean that he sold those shares? If not and he still has those shares ... then today's share price of $1.14 is his 2%. Which means that his original cost is $1.14/.02 = $57 per share. Wow! No wonder he's pissed ! I assumed he was talking about the loss he's taken starting up and running Vdex clinics. Not on MNKD shares per se. A huge proportion of new small businesses fail, so it is not entirely surprising if his business model was (at least to date) suffering.
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Post by sportsrancho on Jan 3, 2019 17:17:44 GMT -5
Down 98% Considers it a loss? Does that mean that he sold those shares? If not and he still has those shares ... then today's share price of $1.14 is his 2%. Which means that his original cost is $1.14/.02 = $57 per share. Wow! No wonder he's pissed ! I assumed he was talking about the loss he's taken starting up and running Vdex clinics. Not on MNKD shares per se. A huge proportion of new small businesses fail, so it is not entirely surprising if his business model was (at least to date) suffering. Nope he was talking about his MNKD shares, he’s been in since the beginning. Very large shareholder! Who would sell shares when you know how good Afrezza is.
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Post by mnkdfann on Jan 3, 2019 17:20:50 GMT -5
Nope he was talking about his MNKD shares, he’s been in since the beginning. Very large shareholder! In that case, WOW!
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Post by sayhey24 on Jan 3, 2019 19:13:54 GMT -5
I can't wait for the exceptionally exciting data. Hopefully we will then have a better understanding of how many PWDs VDEX has serviced. What is clear to me is most of the current board members have been on the board a long time. While they may have been friends of Al, with Al gone its not clear what direction they are providing. Even when Al was there were our MDs on the board explaining to Al that to get doctors to prescribe afrezza it would need to be front and center in the standards of care? At the 2015 ASM someone had Al convinced afrezza was not flying off the shelves because of the spirometry test requirements. I don't think it was until Dr. Kendall showed up there was an understanding that studies needed to be done, published, and presented and then the SOC could be updated. Guys like DeFronzo have been hawking their flawed approaches for years and now Ralph has GLP-1 2019 SOC changes and wants to replace metformin his other flawed idea. care.diabetesjournals.org/content/diacare/40/8/1121.full.pdfUpdating the SOCs is a long term proposition. Setting up VDex like clinics right next to the biggest Endo practices can be done in short order. Setting up VDex like clinics in Urgent Care type clinics who do not deal with chronic conditions is another alternative. Sending sales guys out to talk to endos about the benefits of afrezza seems to me to be a total waste of money when it could be used to fund the clinics and hit these endos right in the pocket. Once you do that you will get their attention. I would vote for Bill. At least he has made some afrezza sales and did so on his own dime. Have our current MD board members setup any clinics and based on their experience tell us why Bill's approach will not work? One concern I have always had was VDex being under-funded and someone like Ondou coming in. Being well funded an Ondou with the real time 24/7 coaching/alerting services could then setup clinics across the street from the VDex clinics. This would be good for afrezza but not so much for VDex. Having a MNKD partnership would IMO be a game-changer. Redirecting the money MNKD is spending on sales staff salaries and trips to Hawaii to opening well planned clinics will actually sell some afrezza. What is proven is the current sales staff is not selling. Maybe with the MNKD money VDex can hit the 100+ clinic number Matt P had on his slide. I am hoping this new exciting data is huge.
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Post by sportsrancho on Jan 3, 2019 19:39:31 GMT -5
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Post by travis1953 on Jan 3, 2019 20:14:32 GMT -5
Maybe I missed it but did he explain exactly what the "AFAL protocol" consists of?
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Post by mytakeonit on Jan 3, 2019 20:31:13 GMT -5
I was thinking about that $57 share price and had to look at my holdings to see where I am at. Yep, I have a few shares also in the low $50's. But, I also have a lot more lower costing shares to average down ... so, average cost is $7.
As I've said before, I feel that MNKD is a company that will keep growing and share price will also continue climbing. In a few years we will be in the $200+ range ... so, $57 will eventually be covered. I think that guy should buy more shares now to average down. He may be too pissed to buy more shares, but that would be even more sad.
Just follow kite's plan and nickel and dime this puppy ... and eventually he will be rich and a BIG DOG !!! Ha!
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Post by uvula on Jan 3, 2019 21:02:47 GMT -5
The tag line under the VDEX logo went from "freedom from diabetes" to "needle free diabetes treatment". Cool Oops. Looks like the new tag line was just for the recent video. The official logo has not changed. The white paper has "needle free" all over it. Maybe I was actually right for once.
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Post by sayhey24 on Jan 3, 2019 21:08:41 GMT -5
Maybe I missed it but did he explain exactly what the "AFAL protocol" consists of? I believe its "afrezza first afrezza last" as opposed to the "Treat to Fail" Four Step ADA protocol
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