I had been hoping for comparison with Exubera, but the weird dragged out launch for Exubera makes that considerably less meaningful early on. Not really apples to apples to compare Afrezza launch with either the early exubera numbers or the numbers from exubera's full launch. Oh well. Here are later numbers people have posted for Exubera showing about where it plateaued before being taken off the market in Oct...
5/04/2007 = 1,664 Trx
5/11/2007 = 1,670 Trx
5/18/2007 = 1,659 Trx
5/25/2007 = 1,816 Trx
...
6/22/2007 = 1.883 Trx
6/29/2007 = 1.858 Trx
DBC, fyi, I have added a few new TRx numbers and also added the NRx and Refills numbers to the extent I can find them on the web.
It appears Exubera plateaued at around 1,800+ TRx, 1,200+ NRx and 600+ Refills before being taken off the market in Oct. 2007.
Hey KBALL... Yes I'm posting here too now and I enjoy it... sometimes the YMB board gets a lil crazy... I love the people on Twitter, they are very supportive .. and yes we have many obstacles to climb, none of which many of us saw coming .. It would have been nice if we had a heads up, but such is life in the stock market.. particularly high risk speculative bio techs... but Afrezza is amazing.. many really good people behind this great product. So at this point I choose to remain positive.. Dr. Steven Edelman has been working with Sanofi .. and coincidentally he lives in San Diego .. He is also a diabetic whom supports the idea of inhaled insulin .. he has been diabetic since he was 15 and has devoted his life to helping people with diabetes.. It is possible he is at this meeting in San Diego with the early adopters.. makes sense to me..
anyway... Goodnight All..
Yes, Dr. Steven Edelman most likely is involved. Quoting from the original post, the initial adopters will meet scientists from SNY and UCSD. We know that Dr. Steven Edelman works at UCSD.
Quoting the earlier post:
Post by hammer
Here is the original post from YMB:
oxotnik1 • 11 hours ago
This Friday, Dec 4th, SNY flying initial adopters to San Diego's Del Mar Hilton for weekend meetings with scientists from SNY and UCSD. Topics include dosing and who knows what else. This would not be happening if SNY planned to drop MNKD. I will get updates and let all know next week.
Afrezza user posted this comment on Twitter this AM:
Afrezzauser afrezzauser · 1h1 hour ago
On way to San Diego till Dec 6th! If anyone would like to meet I will try to do it. Send private message. #afrezza
It sounds to me like maybe a last ditch effort to find out why Afrezza works for some and not others. Maybe why so many samples went out and no refills on those samples, And why with all the trials only a little fraction on participants are using Afrezza? Many see this as a good thing, I myself see's it as a corrective action meeting. I was thinking at first this was an advertisement audition meeting.
Maybe after getting a sample, they find out their insurance company will not cover it.
I think since Afrezza's awareness is minimal, a lot of times doctors gave the samples to existing Afrezza users, rather than to someone who has never tried afrezza. In those circumstances, samples do not necessarily lead to new users. See examples below.
And for people who tried Afrezza and loved Afrezza, but have to gave up Afrezza for cost or other reasons, see posts below: I tried Afrezza- but I don't use it now.
Also see this message:
Last Edit: Dec 2, 2015 22:50:41 GMT -5 by compound26
Hi Spiro, J merr here -- I don't post often but read almost everything-- Have been in it from the beginning and hold way more than I should as a percentage of my portfolio. Where exactly will the meeting take place. I am in Orange county-- May run down there for the weekend and see what I can see.
Quoting the earlier post:
Post by hammer
Here is the original post from YMB:
oxotnik1 • 11 hours ago
This Friday, Dec 4th, SNY flying initial adopters to San Diego's Del Mar Hilton for weekend meetings with scientists from SNY and UCSD. Topics include dosing and who knows what else. This would not be happening if SNY planned to drop MNKD. I will get updates and let all know next week.
Afrezza user posted this comment on Twitter this AM:
Afrezzauser afrezzauser · 1h1 hour ago
On way to San Diego till Dec 6th! If anyone would like to meet I will try to do it. Send private message. #afrezza
4 Unit(30) $39.71 90 for up to 30 days (Retail Pharmacy) 4 Unit(60) $75.00 270 for up to 90 days (Mail Service) 8 Unit(60) $58.19 90 for up to 30 days (Retail Pharmacy) 8 Unit(6) $75.00 540 for up to 14 days (Mail order)
I have to believe the 8 unit by mail order is for 90 days and not 14 as stated on the website. Company is self insured. Plan is BCBS New Jersey. Caremark.
*Needs Prior Authorization"
The poster later said he called Caremark and was told that the 12U cartridge is available and that 8U mail order should be 270 for 90 days, copay $75.00
This is consistent with the information shared by Laureen (note that she indicated that she uses 3 boxes each month, so her 90 day supply should be around 9 boxes) regarding Caremark:
Last Edit: Dec 1, 2015 19:58:28 GMT -5 by compound26
I have to agree. The latest release from UHC clearly states that Afrezza is not covered under their drug plan. So I'm assuming it is for him only, cause he likely went through all the channels necessary to be approved moving forward.
Apparently, the coverage is plan-wide, not specifically cut for one person.
Last Edit: Dec 1, 2015 18:14:08 GMT -5 by compound26
It could well be true and not a huge deal. All depends on whether it is indicative of a large number of UHC covered patients getting better coverage. I wouldn't suspect this guy is lying... just don't know the underlying circumstances. There was a portion of UHC patients that had tier 3 coverage in 2015. In looking at this guys prior twitter posts it seems that there is possibility he had access already in 2015 but was told he might lose it in 2016. It's still good news if it's a lack of worsening in coverage, but that wouldn't be the same as an actual improvement.
Here's hoping that someone turns up some evidence that there is wider coverage under UHC plans in 2016.
DBC, fyi, here is Hillard's post of 10 April 2015:
Last Edit: Dec 1, 2015 17:32:56 GMT -5 by compound26
Al is unlikely to buy shares unless there is significant dilution, and he wants to maintain his ownership percentage. If it really looked like MNKD was going bankrupt I don't think Al would bail out the company. Remember it is operating expenses and debt service that is driving the $10 million/month cash burn. If MNKD went Chapter 11, and Al Mann paid off all the other note holders [which is less than $100 million to Deerfield et al.] he would own the company lock, stock and barrel. IMO
All fine and dandy. Except for the fact that he will then screw all his long-time believers/backers/friends and the isrealis. I don't think Al will do this. Again, there is nothing in his history that would suggest he'll do this, not as a final act and especially when he has other options. And he does have options. I don't think you're right.
Also, if that is the case why didn't Al let Mannkind go bankrupt when the company was faced with the 2nd CRL. By the logic of the above post, Al could have owned the whole company at a very good price by letting the company going bankrupt at that point.
Last Edit: Nov 30, 2015 19:05:33 GMT -5 by compound26
“It’s effortless. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again— I had the skills, tools, motivation, and education to maintain an a1c in the low 5s without afrezza— with afrezza I do it without any of those things!
It commands about 5% of my life to have perfect control of diabetes instead of 90%. I feel sorry for anyone who hasn’t tried it— there is a better way, people.”
I believe the main reason our scripts are still low is the low awareness(not only of the product itself, but also, and, more importantly, its effectiveness) by both the patients and the doctors. Of course the poor insurance coverage and relatively high prices are barriers, but with higher awareness, our scripts would be many times of our current numbers even with the poor insurance coverage and relatively high prices.
Last Edit: Nov 25, 2015 15:01:55 GMT -5 by compound26
The biggest change to A1c happens in that 90-120 day window. The full name of A1c is actually hemoglobin A1c. The reason you see the biggest change in the 90-120 day window is because the test is designed to see how saturated hemoglobin is with sugar. Hemoglobin's life is only 90-120 days...
So any decreases past that point are likely due to a better understanding of how to use the medication, as well as changes to diet and exercise. This is what confuses me about why results showing superiority are taking so long (since, by all accounts, Afrezza should be lowering A1c better than other prandials). The tests only need to take up to 3 months to show this. It's been 9 since Afrezza hit the market. They should have been running simultaneous studies with several different methods to find the best results. I can't imagine the social media folk are the only ones that have been having better success with Afrezza. One would think that lower A1c numbers alone would be enough to claim superiority, since that's the benchmark for how well insulin is working.
I haven't researched as well as some of you on here, but the best I've seen Afrezza get to was in the 5.4/5.5% range, so it may be expecting too much to get it sub 5, unless they somehow discover it's really hard to overdose on the stuff. Basals are also responsible for keeping A1c low. Hopefully with Toujeo being more concentrated and having better control better results are on the way.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, yesterday I received an Afrezza packet in the mail. About 3 weeks ago, I requested more information from the Afrezza.com website. Pardon the shaky "Blair Witch Project" quality, but I was trying to record the video with one hand while handling the packet with the other:
Somebody asked the question on another thread this morning, "Where is Sanofi spending $225 million?" I think that this packet, with its printing and mailing costs, is but a small part of the D-T-C campaign being launched...
I have United Healthcare and the cost of Afrezza, currently not covered under my plan is $331.96 for a 30-day supply and $905.42 for a 90-day supply. This is all out of pocket.
wiscdh, could you elaborate a little bit so that we understand the TRx and NRx better.
If it is not too much information, could you kindly let us know:
1. when were you first prescribed Afrezza;
2. For how many months' supply was the initial prescription;
3. How many refills were included in the initial prescription?
4. How many new prescriptions and refills you have had in total since day one on Afrezza?
5. How many boxes of Afrezza was that price of $331.96 and that price of $905.42 respectively?
If you prefer to PM me your response, that will be great too.
And I welcome others on this board to provide input on the above questions. Or perhaps someone can do a survey on these questions so that we can better interpret the NRx, TRx and refills data.
Many thanks!
Last Edit: Nov 24, 2015 18:04:18 GMT -5 by compound26
And for you consideration, in its annual review of 2007 (en.sanofi.com/Images/16147_AR_2007_EN.pdf), after one year launch of Apidra in the US (Apidra was launched in UK in October 2005 and then in the US in March 2006), Sanofi barely mentioned Apidra (basically similar treatment to that of Afrezza in the last two conference calls of Sanofi). In that 48 page document, Apidra was mentioned in four places, each mentioning is just one sentence.
Last Edit: Nov 24, 2015 0:22:04 GMT -5 by compound26
