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Post by mannmade on Feb 3, 2015 20:38:05 GMT -5
Baba, Someone started an Afrezza thread at the American Diabetes association forum and I posted on it. I immediately was attacked by two or three long time posters as being a shill for MannKind. I was honest, used by real name, and replied truthfully that I am invested in MannKind. But, I am invested because I believe in Afrezza and I also am invested because I want my money to do some good in this world. My posts were informative and respectful. I also uploaded links to afrezzauser's twitter page and blog where he is posting his daily experience with Afrezza now. I posted a link to Dr. Jay Skyler's You Tube video from last year where he talks about Afrezza's advanced kinetics. Anyway, one of those long timers wrote that she 'reported' me to the moderator so I then reported her as she was saying nasty things about my character. That would be OK if she knew me but since she does not, I took umbrage at her insinuating remarks about me. At around 4PM, a moderator removed the Afrezza thread in order to further evaluate the situation. I do hope that she restores the thread soon. There were almost 1,000 views of the thread. It is amazing how a few people could be so adamantly opposed to something upon which they have so very little knowledge. My feeling from the experience is that there are many people interested in knowing more about Afrezza but there are some long time posters in that forum who think that they run the place and that everyone and anyone is suspect if they have not been there for awhile. A couple of people did write in in support of Afrezza but they were accused of being shills too because they were new to the forum. Lesson learned. Don't do it. Leave it to the Endos and the diabetics. There are so many people who are suspicious of drug companies and money grubbing immoral investors that they will not know that you are not one. They do not trust you, so you can only do harm. Please stop. Please apologize if you can and stay away. Let Sanofi and the Endos and diabetics spread the word. It does not matter what you write, true or not, you can only do harm. ...and I just have to ask. Do you actually read this message board? I and others have posted on this subject so many times recently I am beginning to feel like a jerk. I have been bumping the topic on the YMB every 12 hours. I even put it up on SA. My mission used to be to tell investors about Afrezza. My new mission is to ask investors to stay off medical message boards. My personal opinion is it just confuses what should be two separate discussions on the topic of "Adoption." One POV is from an investors standpoint (one who likely does not have diabetes such as myself) and one is from someone who is a diabetic (who may also be an investor but not likely). As an investor I cannot see why anyone who is a diabetic would not want to take Afrezza. And let's face it, the primary argument left for the shorts is the issue of Adoption as will soon be represented by NRx's and sales figures. And i suspect they will be low to start for a variety of reasons not the least of which were well articulated in an article published earlier today by Psycho Analyst. So us longs (myself included) are all waiting on the numbers and we want them to be good after waiting for so long. But sometimes we just can't rush things and I think it is better to let the investor conversations stay among investors and the diabetes conversation stay among diabetics and their health care professionals. Case in point, I spoke with my 57 year old brother who is a T1 since he was 8 yrs old and he is not yet convinced about dosing and lung safety with Afrezza. So rather than engage him in a conversation on Afrezza's merits, I let it go as he is the one with the disease and not me. I just wanted to make sure he was aware of it which he is. And at the end of the day that is all we can do and which I think Sanofi is doing very well...
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Post by obamayoumama on Feb 3, 2015 22:10:56 GMT -5
Anyone notice the short slant to the AP article? The price per dose was against Aprida and AFREZZA vs. the pens and AFREZZA. I want to ask the writer why that drug was selected. I know it was a Sanofi drug, but not a fair comparison.
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Post by robsacher on Feb 3, 2015 23:31:31 GMT -5
Spiro,
It was an interesting experience but ultimately frustrating, not so much because of the two or three people I encountered there who were openly hostile to anyone being there that they did not already know, but more so because there are people here in this thread are so much against the idea. However, I will defer to their better judgement even if I do not agree with it. I understand the argument they have set forth. I'm going to go sit quietly in a corner for awhile...
RS
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Post by liane on Feb 4, 2015 5:48:32 GMT -5
robsacher,
I do think it has a lot to do with being a new poster on a forum. The long time members are scrutinizing your agenda. I know I pay particular attention to new members here - hopefully not so openly hostile as the person you encountered. I know that even Afrezzauser encountered the same scrutiny on one of the other diabetes forums back when he was a trial participant. That forum also concluded he must have a financial interest in touting the drug.
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Post by ezrasfund on Feb 4, 2015 8:22:22 GMT -5
I disagree. To continue the analogy of "I have learned to never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and besides the pig likes it." Now you go to talk to diabetics about their disease. You stink like a pig sty, so they find you disgusting you no matter what you say.
Many people, maybe most people, think that anyone who profits from stocks is reprehensible, and those who would try to profit from medicine are worse. We may know better, but we will not change their minds on a diabetes forum. Try reading the carefully moderated comment section of the NY Times when the article is about medicine and drug companies. It is filled with anger and hate directed at those drug companies and their profit mongers.
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Post by mannmade on Feb 4, 2015 9:25:50 GMT -5
seekingalpha.com/article/2882646-could-mannkinds-u-s-traction-result-in-a-short-squeeze?auth_param=21f01:1ad49j2:38328faec07ec1f3b3662cad8e765e3bCould MannKind's U.S. Traction Result In A Short Squeeze? By Thom Lachenmann Our last piece on MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) was quick to point out that a short squeeze could eventually be on its way for those holding long. The combination of compression to the price, while MannKind and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY) continue to push forward led us to believe that the company could find a point of critical mass, where significant upside potential could be eventually reached. In a piece prior to that on MannKind indicated that we may have been losing patience with the speed in which the company was conducting the rollout of its inhaled insulin product, Afrezza. Before that, we wrote about MannKind a couple of months ago, where we asked the question of whether or not a short squeeze was possible. We talked about the appeal of going long stocks that are heavily shorted and we concluded that we'd continue waiting for more price compression before considering MannKind as a long investment. Tuesday morning's news led us to believe that the company continues to move in the right direction. Sanofi's release of Afrezza in the U.S. makes MannKind's product one of a kind. At this point, it's just a matter of seeing if the convenience will catch on. The details of the release were: · In an expected boost to its diabetes franchise, Sanofi (SNY) launches Afrezza in the U.S., the only inhalable insulin available in this market. The product, developed by MannKind ((MNKD)), is an ultra fast-acting insulin that is administered via a whistle-sized inhaler for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. · Afrezza is priced at $7.54 for a daily dose of 12 units compared to $3.14 for Sanofi's injectable Apidra. · Industry analysts are conservative in their forecasts of Afrezza sales, expecting only ~$182M by 2019. · In the commercialization deal signed last year, MannKind received an upfront payment of $150M, potential milestones of up to $775M plus 35% of future profits. If you're long MannKind and have been through the thick and thin over the last few years, the great thing about this news is that you're finally going to watch the core of your long thesis play out. So many people that we've spoken to have invested in this company for what they thought wasn't just great medicine, but innovation. Through the approval process and the R&D phase, while MNKD stock was priced speculatively, the thoughts were always about what would happen once the company had finally partnered and was ready to launch. To keep it simple, it's make or break time for Afrezza in the U.S. You also may have noticed that the short interest as a percentage of the total outstanding shares (not the float) is a whopping 18.94%. The era of the MannKind short seems to be heading into the distant past as the company sets up for tangible U.S. sales. While the numbers haven't come in yet and will ultimately be the deciding factor, we believe shorts are playing with fire here. MNKD Short Interest Chart MNKD Short Interest data by YCharts We've said this before and we reiterate our point with Afrezza's U.S. launch. With the stock compressed as much as it has been over the last year, and the current short interest, any traction from MNKD could potentially ignite the match that incites a short squeeze. If you're looking for some exposure to biotech that's a bit less risky than speculative companies without FDA approval, MNKD could be a nice company to consider. We continue to emphasize our point that the MannKind/Sanofi deal could potentially be a long-term success. We have no position in MNKD, but we are reassured by the company's recent $50M award and the fact that it's at a "jumping off" point in the U.S.
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Post by biotec on Feb 4, 2015 10:10:47 GMT -5
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Post by savzak on Feb 4, 2015 11:27:49 GMT -5
abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/sanofi-mannkind-launch-inhaled-insulin-called-afrezza-28696001
Key line in the article: "You can basically plan around your day, rather than planning around your insulin," Schwarz said.
Sanofi, Mannkind Launch Inhaled Insulin Called Afrezza
TRENTON, N.J. — Feb 3, 2015, 5:42 PM ET
By LINDA A. JOHNSON AP Business Writer Associated Press
Hoping to appeal to millions of needle-phobic Americans with diabetes, drugmakers Sanofi and Mannkind have just launched Afrezza, an insulin that's inhaled, rather than injected.
Afrezza was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last June for patients with either Type 1 or 2 diabetes, to be used along with other medicines, diet and exercise.
Paris-based Sanofi SA, a major player in the huge diabetes treatment market, then licensed Afrezza's worldwide marketing rights from Mannkind Corp. of Valencia, California, which developed Afrezza.
"This is an alternative for those patients who are not willing to inject insulin" or to increase the number of shots per day, Stefan Schwarz, Sanofi's head of U.S. marketing for Afrezza, said in an interview Tuesday.
That's a lot of patients. More than 30 million Americans are estimated to have diabetes, an incurable hormonal disorder in which the body either doesn't properly respond to or doesn't produce enough insulin, which converts sugar from food into energy. As excess sugar accumulates, it damages blood vessels and vital organs and inhibits healing. The disease is a leading cause of amputations, blindness and other serious complications.
Meanwhile, a 2013 study in the journal "Diabetes Care" found that half of adults taking pills for diabetes delay the start of insulin use for five or more years to avoid injecting it in their stomach or elsewhere one or more times a day.
However, many patients don't have their diabetes under good control, and insulin usually does that better than pills.
Still, an inhaled insulin launched in 2006 by Pfizer Inc., Exubera, was pulled from the market in 2007 because of disappointing sales.
Schwarz noted that the formulation of Afrezza — different from Exubera's — disburses it widely in the lungs so it enters the bloodstream rapidly and hits peak levels in just 15 minutes.
"You can basically plan around your day, rather than planning around your insulin," Schwarz said.
By comparison, injected insulin peaks in the blood in about 90 minutes, so patients must inject it well before each meal and know in advance what and how much they'll be eating to calculate the dose.
Afrezza's most common side effects are low blood sugar, cough, throat pain or irritation and headaches. Because it can cause a tiny decrease in lung function initially, it's not recommended for patients with asthma, emphysema or chronic bronchitis or who smoke or recently stopped smoking.
Sanofi said its dry-powder insulin and inhaler have other advantages over Exubera: Afrezza's inhaler is much smaller, is replaced every 15 days so it doesn't need cleaning, and it dispenses insulin in "units" as with injected insulin, making dose calculations easy. Exubera's inhaler required metric system calculations.
Sanofi said the daily cost for Afrezza should range from about $7.50 to $9.25 per day, for typical doses, compared to about $3.10 to $5.20 for the company's injected insulin brand Aprida.
Sanofi, the world's third-biggest drugmaker by revenue, needs to boost its U.S. diabetes business. It's been slumping — one reason the company ousted CEO Chris Viehbacher last year — and the patent on its top-selling insulin brand, Lantus, expires this month.
Sanofi is to receive 65 percent of Afrezza profits, Mannkind the remaining 35 percent.
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Post by gamblerjag on Feb 4, 2015 11:38:57 GMT -5
Word of mouth baby!
Hey Jeff,
I have heard the news, it's very exciting. I'm working on updating our current Afrezza information now!
Joe Guarneri
Editorial Assistant
dLife - It's Your Diabetes Life
101 Franklin Street
Westport, CT 06880 203-635-0145
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Post by gomnkd on Feb 4, 2015 11:57:17 GMT -5
Do you know why many Diabetics are inherently skeptical of inhaled insulin? It is not just Exubera. They feel that they are burdened with a disease like Diabetes. They don't want to screw up a working lungs by injecting an unknown substance. The fact they get is a onetime slight decrease in lung function and unknown risk of say inhaling for 20 years.
There are only two advocates who can convince them (not the investor posters). docs and diabetics. The docs have a lag time of 6 months at least. They have to prescribe Afrezza to quite a few and keep eye on A1C. They'll get quite convinced after seeing stable readings. The diabetics need to go rah-rah over Afrezza and break the internet. Its gonna take time. It is a war of attrition to defeat ignorance.
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Post by bion61 on Feb 4, 2015 12:44:52 GMT -5
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Post by jpg on Feb 5, 2015 1:33:32 GMT -5
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Post by silentbob on Feb 5, 2015 8:03:48 GMT -5
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-05/sanofi-revamps-diabetes-unit-to-gain-ground-against-novoSanofi Revamps Diabetes Unit to Gain Ground Against Novo by Albertina TorsoliSimeon Bennett 12:34 PM CET February 5, 2015 (Bloomberg) -- Sanofi reorganized its U.S. diabetes operations, replacing a third of sales managers to regain ground lost to Danish rival Novo Nordisk A/S. The French drugmaker also increased the number of people promoting its diabetes products and put in place stronger pay incentives for them, according to Chairman Serge Weinberg. Diabetes is Sanofi’s biggest business, accounting for more than 20 percent of sales. “There has been a very strong reshuffle,” Weinberg said as the Paris-based company reported earnings. “The basics have been put back, the proper incentive, the reinforcement also of the sales force to be able to cover the market.” Sanofi surprised investors on Oct. 28 with a tepid forecast for its best-selling product, an insulin called Lantus that diabetics use to control the amount of sugar in their blood, and ended Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher’s six-year tenure the next day. Lantus lost ground in the U.S. to Novo Nordisk’s Levemir insulin, which was cheaper and came with more rebates, Weinberg said today. Sanofi said on Nov. 20 that revenue from diabetes treatments will be flat to slightly higher through 2018. The market share erosion to Levemir had been about 2 percent annually in the past three years. It has stabilized in the past 10 weeks, Peter Guenter, Sanofi’s executive vice president for commercial operations, said today. Lantus Succession “Over the last two or three years or so we lost consistent market share against a product that frankly has nothing to offer compared to Lantus,” Guenter said. Besides staff changes and new hires, Sanofi has now trained its sales teams to better focus the marketing message and improve the interaction with doctors. “All this work seems to be starting to bear fruit,” he said at a press conference in Paris. Today’s report shows Lantus sales accelerated in the fourth quarter, rising 11 percent compared with an 8 percent gain in the prior three months. Lantus, which last year garnered 6.3 billion euros ($7.16 billion) in sales, starts losing patent protection this month. The company is looking for future growth from a new insulin called Toujeo, and an inhaled version of the treatment called Afrezza, which it licensed from MannKind Corp. for as much as $925 million in August. Sanofi last year appointed Andrew Purcell as head of diabetes in the U.S. It also promoted Jez Moulding to head its North American pharmaceutical operations. Bob Rossilli, a Sanofi executive overseeing sales of diabetes medicines to doctors in eastern U.S., left the company in November.
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Post by savzak on Feb 5, 2015 8:17:34 GMT -5
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Post by mannmade on Feb 5, 2015 8:52:36 GMT -5
www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/05/why-mannkind-corporation-vaulted-22-higher-in-janu.aspxWhy MannKind Corporation Vaulted 22% Higher in January MNKD Chart What: Shares of MannKind (NASDAQ: MNKD ) , a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on developing therapies to treat diabetes, vaulted higher by 22% in January per, S&P Capital IQ, after announcing the receipt of a milestone payment from partner Sanofi and in preparation for the launch of Afrezza, So what: In early January, MannKind announced in a press release that it had received a $50 million milestone payment related to meeting specific manufacturing milestones as outlined in its licensing agreement with Sanofi. Remember, in addition to receiving $150 million in upfront payments, MannKind is eligible to receive up to $725 million more for hitting certain development, regulatory, and milestone targets. Also, investors are getting excited about the upcoming launch of Afrezza, the company's inhaled type 1 and type 2 diabetes medication. Afrezza gives most diabetics a genuine choice over injections and was also shown in clinical studies to work exceptionally fast and leave the body sooner than other options, which is critical to avoiding bouts of hypoglycemia. Source: MannKind. Lastly, Alfred Mann announced he was retiring as CEO of the company and moving into an Executive Chairman's role. The press release notes that Hakan Edstrom, the current president, will step into the CEO role moving forward. Investors may view this transition as a positive since Mann's presence was associated with years of ongoing losses as CEO. Now what: When it comes to volatility, MannKind never seems to disappoint on a month-to-month basis. On one hand, there are catalysts that could push the stock even higher. Having plenty of cash in its coffers means investors can transition from worrying about MannKind's cash burn and instead prepare to realize recurring revenue. Having Sanofi as a partner will certainly help as it has a pretty good track record when it comes to drug launches. On the flipside, MannKind is already richly valued considering that it'll be getting just 31.5% of Afrezza's total sales out of the gate. We also have no clue how successful Afrezza will be immediately following its launch. On paper, the drug looks as if it makes sense from a convenience factor, but will physicians prescribe it and consumers pay for it? More than a handful of drugs have been derailed by poor launches when they otherwise looked as if they'd perform well prior to their actual launch. Personally, I tend to fall into the latter camp of "prove it first." Seeing Alfred Mann step down prior to launch and having Sanofi's CEO pushed out just months ago lends an odd vibe to this launch. Until we have a few quarters of sales data under our belt, I'd suggest sticking to the sidelines. This coming blockbuster will make every biotech jealous The best biotech investors consistently reap gigantic profits by recognizing true potential earlier and more accurately than anyone else. Let me cut right to the chase. There is a product in development that could revolutionize not just how we treat a common chronic illness, but potentially the entire health industry. Analysts are already licking their chops at the sales potential. If you hope to outsmart Wall Street and realize multi-bagger returns you will need to get in early -- check out The Motley Fool’s new free report on the dream-team responsible for this game-changing blockbuster. CLICK HERE NOW.
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