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Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Released Thursday, 21st March 2024
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Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano

Thursday, 21st March 2024
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1:23

Hi listener, this is mashable could going

1:25

in the and I'm a producer on

1:28

Masters of Scale. Before. Today's

1:30

episode I wanted to share

1:32

attack podcast We Love. Tad.

1:35

Tech. From. The Ted

1:37

Audio Collective Dad Tag brings your

1:40

weekly episodes to share the latest

1:42

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from the Ai debates to how we

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can build a better internet. Check

2:00

it out by searching for TED Tech,

2:03

wherever you get your podcasts. It

2:07

is reported that over 9 million people living

2:10

in the U.S. are on weight loss drugs. It's

2:14

the top of TikTok. Ozempic

2:16

is a drug you inject that's

2:18

meant to improve blood sugar and help

2:20

manage type 2 diabetes. But

2:23

because one of the side effects is

2:25

weight loss, many are using it off

2:27

label, a trend that may have started

2:29

in Hollywood. A

2:33

drug shortage is impacting people living with diabetes

2:35

and some pharmacies say they just can't get

2:37

it in stock. We

2:39

are just getting started. Millions of people are going

2:41

to have seen the benefits. Well

2:43

then people are going to want to talk about what's the cast gaining impact on society.

2:46

Look at the impact that's on the grocery business

2:48

or the restaurant business or travel or the healthcare

2:51

system, you name it. Only a

2:53

few million people have this but 110 plus

2:55

million people are eligible. There's a

2:57

long way to go before we're

2:59

done talking about this. Bob

3:09

Safian here. The boom in

3:11

weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wagovie

3:13

is rippling across society and the business

3:15

world. Today I'm

3:17

talking with Zach Raytano, CEO of

3:20

Telehealth Platform, RO, which has ridden

3:22

the weight loss craze to a

3:24

$7 billion valuation. It's

3:27

been fueled by a series of

3:30

rapid responses. Raytano likens the tumult

3:32

around weight loss drugs to the

3:34

furor around AI that the cascading

3:36

impacts in terms of health, economics

3:38

and culture will be more far reaching than

3:41

we can imagine. This is

3:43

Rapid Response. I'm

3:57

Bob Safian. I'm here with Zach Raytano.

4:00

Founder and CEO of telehealth company, Ro.

4:02

It's good to see you, Zach. Good

4:05

to see you, Bob. Thanks for having me. So in

4:07

the last year, the appetite

4:09

for weight loss drugs like

4:11

Ozempic and Wigovia and other

4:13

so-called GLP ones has

4:16

just exploded. Patients, doctors,

4:18

healthcare companies, all scrambling.

4:21

Denmark's Novo Nordisk maker of Ozempic and

4:23

Wigovia is so on fire, it's not

4:25

responsible for most of that country's growth.

4:28

Kind of amazing. Your

4:30

business, Ro, has been part of this

4:32

whirlwind. Yeah, absolutely. I'll first

4:35

start actually, I think, by giving a

4:37

little bit of context. GLP ones satisfy,

4:40

at Ro, what we think is they

4:42

satisfy five criteria never before seen in

4:44

medicine. And the combination of those five

4:46

things has created this unprecedented demand.

4:49

The first is that the majority

4:51

of the US population is eligible for the drug. Right,

4:54

so that we've really never had before,

4:56

rather than maybe vaccines at times. But

4:58

75% of US population has overweight or

5:01

has obesity, and probably about 60% are

5:03

eligible for the treatment. The

5:06

second is it's incredibly effective,

5:09

two, three, sometimes four times

5:11

more effective than existing solutions,

5:14

right? Surgical interventions

5:16

are comparable, but the third point

5:18

is that far less scalable. So

5:20

you have the majority of US

5:23

population eligible, extremely effective, quite scalable.

5:26

The fourth is that patients want it. And

5:28

the fifth is that providers and

5:30

the majority of the healthcare system over

5:32

time want patients to have access to

5:34

it, right? So those five

5:37

things create this unprecedented demand. You

5:39

started your company focused on erectile

5:42

dysfunction, but early last year

5:44

you launched what you call the body program

5:46

focused on obesity. And that timing, I mean,

5:49

it couldn't have been better. In those

5:51

instances when the timing comes together in sort of

5:53

these weird ways, sometimes it's better

5:55

to be lucky than good, right? Like erectile dysfunction

5:57

just happened to be a side effect of my

5:59

life. heart medication. And

6:01

I happened to get re-prescribed that medication

6:04

at the very same time that there

6:07

was a large transition of branded

6:09

drugs to generic drugs that these

6:11

patents were expiring at the same

6:13

time that telemedicine laws

6:15

were being updated. So there were so

6:17

many things related to timing circumstances where

6:20

we just got lucky. And

6:22

with the new obesity program, your timing

6:24

there was just as a wave of

6:26

demand came rolling in. We

6:28

launched the Row Body membership, as you

6:31

alluded to, in January 2023. And by

6:34

May, there was a

6:37

national shortage of

6:39

Volgobi, which for a drug that needs

6:41

to be taken weekly, that

6:43

is titrated up, which means that patients start

6:45

at a low dose as their body gets

6:47

used to it. They might hit what

6:50

is referred to as maintenance or a steady dose,

6:52

and that varies based on patients. But patients take

6:54

a once-weekly injection and they need to do it

6:56

on a continuous basis. And

6:59

so when there's a national shortage and

7:01

patients are getting different doses over time, it

7:03

becomes harder and harder for them to hit

7:05

that next dose. And so what we did

7:07

in May, we went

7:09

from advertising a

7:11

significant amount. We took over Grand

7:13

Central. We took over subway stations.

7:15

We were advertising on TV, Facebook,

7:18

Google, you name it, all of the different

7:20

channels that I'm sure people on the pod

7:23

are very familiar with. We stopped advertising. You

7:25

stopped because you had too many people already

7:27

coming in. We stopped

7:29

because we saw that the

7:32

people that were on the platform and that

7:34

were currently coming in as well, we needed

7:36

to devote all of our energy to making

7:38

sure that they were able to get medication

7:40

on a continuous basis. And we didn't want

7:42

to exacerbate that problem by

7:45

fueling demand with advertising. So

7:48

we stopped advertising. We

7:51

issued credits to all of

7:53

our members that were unable to pick up medication

7:56

within 30 days. So a lot, a lot, a

7:58

lot of refunds and credits. We

8:00

shifted all of our existing resources

8:03

to finding supply at different pharmacies.

8:05

So in July and August

8:07

alone of 2023, our

8:09

team made well over 40 to

8:11

50,000 phone calls to different

8:14

pharmacies throughout the country. Phone calls, like,

8:17

are you literally like on a phone yourself

8:19

manually picking 100%? Wow. So

8:21

if we're able to find stock at a pharmacy,

8:24

we immediately could see

8:27

what other patients in that zip code or

8:29

within a specific number of miles, 5, 10,

8:33

15, 30 miles, ping those patients that we

8:35

found supply, it's here. Can you go get

8:37

it? And then we would go back to

8:39

the pharmacy, reserve it, or transfer a prescription

8:41

to that pharmacy. So it was

8:44

a massive game

8:46

of whack-a-mole there to try and find

8:48

supply for patients. And then we added

8:50

drugs to the formula. One of them

8:53

was Cixenda. It's a

8:55

daily injection. It is

8:57

less effective, but it's still more effective than

8:59

alternative options. That then went on shortage. And

9:01

then at the end of November, early December,

9:05

Lilly launched a

9:09

drug called Zepbound. And that

9:11

allowed us to start advertising again, start onboarding

9:13

patients, because we had extremely high confidence as

9:15

we added that to the formula that they

9:17

would be able to access some form of

9:20

treatment. To put yourself in this

9:22

position required a series

9:25

of responses that you

9:27

guys went through starting back in 2021.

9:30

And the company had provided

9:32

obesity treatments before. But in

9:35

the summer of 2021, you

9:37

kind of had an epiphany. My dad,

9:39

who's a physician, and

9:42

he's actually, and I can share this part with

9:44

a big smile on my face, but he has

9:46

saved my life. He saved my sister's life. He

9:48

saved my mom's life. Because we've all at one

9:50

point in time or another had life-threatening illnesses. And

9:52

I've had a general heart condition, and he helped

9:54

me navigate that. But even

9:56

as a physician himself, he has always struggled with

9:59

his weight. for as long as I can

10:01

remember my entire life. And I saw

10:03

the fights that that created because when

10:06

people don't understand the cause

10:08

of obesity, they make the false

10:10

assumption that it's willpower, that it's

10:12

self-discipline. And so you see this

10:14

person in my dad who's devoted his life to

10:17

his family, devoted his life to helping others, but

10:19

why can't he just do this one thing for

10:21

us? Why can't he just lose

10:23

weight and get healthy and be there for us

10:25

as we want him to be? And again, it's

10:27

out of love and fear, but it was

10:29

driven by what a lot of people have,

10:31

which is a misperception of obesity as a

10:33

disease. And so my

10:36

dad was seeing an obesity specialist

10:39

and he ended up being

10:41

prescribed as epic and now he's on a moon

10:44

jar actually. And he lost

10:46

40, 50 pounds. I

10:48

saw him in almost a matter

10:51

of like a week or two go

10:53

from this drive,

10:56

this obsession, as he

10:58

would describe it with food, and

11:01

it disappeared almost overnight. Midnight

11:05

trips to the kitchen, all of

11:07

them disappeared. When I heard

11:10

that, him articulate that,

11:13

and then look at the number

11:15

of people that we were helping, the number of people

11:17

that were asking for it, and saw

11:20

that there was

11:22

an opportunity to replicate that experience for

11:24

millions of people and knew

11:26

that was the most profound thing I thought that

11:28

we could do and build at the time. So

11:31

you went down the rabbit hole, as

11:33

you've described it, studying obesity drugs and

11:35

the weight loss landscape. And when you

11:38

climbed out of that hole, you

11:40

decided to shift the whole company in

11:42

this direction, which was a risky bet.

11:45

We made a uncomfortably large

11:48

investment there, probably ahead

11:50

of where people thought maybe it warranted

11:53

it at the time, and ahead of

11:56

not only because it was such a large

11:58

investment relative to our business. business and our

12:00

resources at the time. But

12:02

also because people had doubts, weight

12:05

loss is a category from a

12:07

clinical perspective that is littered with

12:09

failures and with over-promising, under-deliver, and

12:11

then not to mention, this is

12:13

a weekly injection. So

12:15

there were so many reasons why people thought

12:17

this is never gonna work. Those

12:20

doubts included doubts inside your own organization,

12:22

right? There were folks in the company

12:24

who weren't quite sure this was where

12:26

the company should go. Yes,

12:29

that is true. To

12:31

me, it was, I was gonna

12:33

be obvious that I thought the world would be

12:35

so impacted by these things. Sometimes

12:37

you're right, sometimes you're wrong, but it takes a tremendous

12:40

amount of trust by the team. So the team, I

12:42

think, said classic

12:44

disagree and commit. And then

12:47

once they saw, and it didn't take much,

12:49

I think it didn't take much convincing once

12:51

people saw the impact that it had on

12:53

patients' lives. You said to

12:55

me when we talked earlier that we needed

12:57

a hero product to build the brand. Sounds

13:00

almost like you were looking for something at the

13:02

same time that this appeared to you. Building

13:05

a brand is part art, part

13:07

science, because if it was just

13:10

pure science, everyone would be able to do

13:12

it. I deeply believe that you

13:14

need a single hero product to build a

13:16

brand. It's the initial tip of the spear.

13:19

It's how people are introduced to the

13:21

company and to the promise

13:23

that you're making to them. And

13:26

over time, I think when people talk

13:28

about, oh, your brand will

13:30

only be known for one thing, that's a champagne

13:32

problem. That means you found product market fit,

13:34

which is the hardest thing to do as

13:37

a company or as a product when

13:39

you're first starting. And you first started,

13:41

the product was ED related, right? That

13:43

was your hero product in the beginning

13:45

that you were known for. Yeah,

13:48

so we first launched the company under the

13:50

brand Roman, and

13:52

the first product was erectile dysfunction. We

13:55

always knew that we wanted to

13:57

treat patients of all ages. and

14:00

Texas genders across the country. And so we

14:02

knew that, even as we were building the

14:04

brand, we knew that Roman wasn't going to

14:06

be the end state. But

14:09

we sort of wandered our way to

14:11

try and find the right solution. We

14:13

tried a house of brands, we had

14:16

Roman, we had Rory for women's

14:18

health, we had Zero for smoking

14:20

cessation, we had Road Derm for dermatology,

14:22

we had a bunch of different brands. And

14:25

ultimately, the thing that I think we realized

14:27

we wanted one brand that

14:29

represented the ethos of the company.

14:32

And so we put all of our products and services

14:34

under one brand. But to your point, we

14:37

still needed a hero product. How would the majority

14:39

of people learn about Road? We had a strong

14:41

hypothesis that obesity would

14:43

be that hero product. So

14:47

you made the call to lean into obesity

14:49

as your hero product. You made what you

14:51

call an uncomfortably large investment.

14:54

But as you're building that out, you

14:57

also realize you need to restructure the

14:59

company. Building a

15:01

company is a continuously

15:03

humbling experience. You're constantly

15:06

doing things where you're wrong. It's

15:08

this weird combination of when you're building

15:10

a company, you need to have such

15:13

conviction in what you're doing because there's so

15:15

many hurdles and so many people are telling

15:18

you no all the time. They're telling you

15:20

your idea is stupid. We are laughed out

15:22

of the room when raising money constantly. When

15:25

we raised our Series A, there were 40 no's out

15:27

of 43 pitch interviews and pitches. So

15:32

it's this really difficult tension between needing to have

15:34

really high conviction and being wrong a lot and

15:36

being told no all the time. And

15:38

in 2022, my co-founders and I refounded

15:42

the company. And that included

15:44

some of the things we've mentioned thus far. It

15:46

included bringing everything under one brand. So that was

15:48

part of the refounding. The

15:51

second thing we did is we moved on from

15:53

just about 20% of the company. That's

15:55

some humble pie too when you have to move

15:58

on from people because in. the large part

16:00

of it was our doing. We

16:05

have to do a layoff, it's fully

16:07

on you. That's

16:10

a big mistake that we will have

16:13

to live with and learn from. The

16:15

next thing actually that we did was we shut down a

16:18

few of our products, revenue generating

16:20

products that we shut down, but to narrow

16:22

our focus even more. The

16:25

confluence of those four things has worked together to create

16:28

the re-acceleration that Ro has

16:30

seen. Tell these

16:32

drugs the healthcare equivalent of AI.

16:35

Explain why GLP1s are like AI.

16:39

In the same way that AI

16:41

is this unbelievable,

16:45

let's say, facilitator of leverage for society.

16:47

I think that what we are seeing

16:50

is that these drugs are

16:52

going to have a profound impact. We're going

16:54

to see a tremendous impact on the healthcare

16:56

system from the surgeries that are needed, the

16:59

procedures that exist, to the number of

17:01

auto injectors that are built and developed.

17:05

People eat 30% fewer calories. What

17:07

they eat changes. They eat

17:10

far less ice cream, far more fish,

17:12

poultry, vegetables, and then lifestyle behaviors. On

17:14

the other side of people losing weight, do

17:17

they exercise more or less marriage and

17:19

dating? You actually see

17:21

an increase in both marriages and divorces on the

17:24

other side of large impacts of body composition. We

17:27

can't yet fathom, predict, digest

17:30

the true cascading impact of AI. I

17:33

definitely think we can't truly understand the cascading impact of GLP1s

17:35

5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 years from

17:37

now. Cascading

17:40

impact akin to AI. I

17:43

hadn't thought about weight loss that way, but

17:45

I guess if obesity truly becomes a thing

17:48

of the past, who knows what

17:50

the impacts might be. After

17:52

the break, we'll dig into why

17:54

Zach believes the stigma around obesity

17:56

is an opportunity and more. We'll

17:58

be right back. Hi

18:03

listeners, it's Tucker Legersky. As

18:05

a researcher on Masters of Scale, I

18:07

use the innovations of AI on a

18:09

daily basis. And with an increasingly

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overcrowded market, it's hard to discern which ones

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learn more. That's

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grammarly.com. Before

19:18

the break, we heard CEO Zach Raytano

19:20

of Roe talk about the storm around

19:23

weight loss drugs, Wigovi and Ozempic. Now

19:26

we talk about the stigma attached to

19:28

obesity and the risks and opportunities he

19:30

sees in that. Plus, Zach

19:32

gives more detail on the

19:34

drugs cascading impact for businesses

19:36

beyond healthcare. Let's jump

19:38

back in. Fueled

19:41

by TikTok videos and celebrity

19:43

testimonials, people are seeking out

19:46

weight loss prescriptions who

19:48

may not be obese. For other reasons, for a

19:51

body image or other things, what's

19:54

your responsibility in addressing

19:57

that phenomenon? We

20:00

only facilitate treatment and high quality

20:02

obesity care for patients who have

20:05

obesity and are considered quote unquote on

20:07

label for the drug, which means

20:09

they either have a BMI of 27 to 30 with

20:12

a comorbidity or they have a BMI of 30

20:14

plus. Now knowing

20:17

also that BMI is because that is the

20:19

label, that is what is required by the

20:21

FDA on the label. We

20:23

could talk for hours about the flaws

20:25

of BMI and why it is used,

20:27

but I will just say Roe treats

20:29

patients that are on label for the

20:31

drug and we have a rigorous qualification

20:33

process in order to make sure that

20:36

we are only doing that. I think that

20:38

the reason we're all talking about this so

20:40

much is because there is so much stigma

20:44

attached to obesity and to weight loss and

20:46

to the way that it's achieved and it's

20:50

tough, right, because there's so much

20:52

here. Obesity is attached

20:54

to so many different components. There's

20:56

sustainability, there's lifestyle choices. What

20:59

we feed our kids, how we

21:01

gather, how we celebrate. There's so much

21:03

that food consumption and exercise and health

21:06

are wrapped up into that

21:09

we all have very strong feelings towards it

21:11

and that does impact how society judges it

21:13

and how likely someone is to receive treatment

21:15

and how people who seek treatment are viewed

21:18

and so hopefully we can break down a

21:20

lot of that stigma together. Yeah,

21:22

you've been, from the beginning with

21:24

Roman first now, Roe, you've been

21:27

focused on often areas where there

21:29

are stigma or shame, erectile dysfunction,

21:31

baldness, obesity. It's interesting

21:34

because in those areas, sometimes, yeah, customers

21:36

wanna be seen and validated and

21:38

normalized, which I think is what you're doing

21:41

but at the same time, these are communities

21:43

trying to shift and evolve to body neutrality,

21:46

to trying to reduce the role

21:48

that your physical appearance plays in

21:50

your emotional and mental

21:52

health. So what was fascinating

21:55

is that people did have this

21:57

philosophical hurdle around someone seeking medical

21:59

treatment. treatment for obesity. And

22:01

a lot of it is

22:03

because of the stigma that is attached to

22:06

it, the fact that people do see it

22:08

as a flaw of self-discipline and

22:10

willpower. And so what we, but

22:12

the individuals who are impacted by it, I

22:15

can tell you that advertisement resonated with them. For

22:18

us, the advertisements that we create, we say

22:21

what will resonate with the people who need

22:23

this treatment or access to this? We

22:26

solely focus on that. And if

22:28

that frustrates other people, so be it,

22:30

because we are speaking to the people

22:32

who want and need our help. And

22:34

that I think is, again, it's about

22:36

being unapologetically patient-centric. And that's sort

22:38

of the guiding principle for us, right? And even

22:40

take erectile dysfunction or sex. People have sex. So

22:43

the vast majority of us are here. Yeah,

22:45

we don't wanna talk about it. We don't

22:47

wanna talk about the role that it plays.

22:49

We don't wanna talk about the fact that

22:51

someone having positive consensual intimacy with their partner

22:54

more frequently than not is a good thing

22:56

for themselves, their life. There's

22:58

no shortage of research that shows that

23:00

healthy sexual relationships has

23:02

a positive cascading impact on people's lives. And then

23:04

if you're unable to, that's a

23:07

problem for those people for whom it

23:09

impacts. They deserve to have it fixed

23:11

in a discreet, fast, affordable, effective, seamless

23:13

way. Ozenpah can cost almost $900 a month

23:15

right now for a supply. What

23:20

is the future of that? Because it

23:22

seems, that's

23:24

a big burden for a lot of

23:26

people to carry indefinitely. Right now

23:28

there's people who have insurance coverage and people who

23:31

have to pay cash. If you're not covered, you

23:33

might pay around $550 a month. So

23:36

the people, let's just say broadly right now, the people

23:38

who are not covered pay $550 a month on average.

23:41

That's still too expensive. For

23:43

the people who are covered, there are tens of

23:45

millions of people who are covered. So about 30 to 40% of

23:47

employers cover it. That's

23:50

about 50 million people. When

23:52

they are covered, the publicly available data says

23:55

that when someone's covered 80% of the time,

23:58

They pay $25 or less. We

24:00

do see the vast majority of patients on our platform

24:02

pay less than one hundred dollars a month when their

24:04

color. So. About thirty forty percent a

24:06

commercial plans cover it. All. Federal

24:08

employees cover so I think that's an amazing

24:11

array are covered them and their families because

24:13

amazing set by the Us government over what

24:15

you will see. Is as

24:17

more more pharma companies enter or as

24:20

there's more more competition. Will hopefully see

24:22

prices come down. There

24:24

in addition to prices come down, there's

24:26

research being done. That. Highlights

24:28

the benefits beyond obesity.

24:31

So. In addition to society catching

24:33

up to the underlying health

24:35

impact of of excess weight

24:37

nexus adipose tissue, the label

24:39

will expand to cover more

24:41

things. Heart. Disease, Chronic Kidney

24:43

Disease, Sleep Apnea As I mentioned before, being

24:46

studied for all these things and what you're

24:48

also seeing as you're seeing, the pipeline here

24:50

is tremendous where it's going from once a

24:52

week injectables to some that are being studied

24:54

for once a month, some that are being

24:56

studied once every six months, some that are

24:58

being studied really early on for almost vaccine

25:00

like once a year. That's far less expensive,

25:03

right City two times a year versus once.

25:05

And then you're seeing oral versions of

25:07

Glp wants to Daily tablets twice a

25:10

day, Tablets been started. Tablets are far

25:12

easier to scale. Then than

25:14

these in injectables. So there's a

25:16

lot that's happening that will hopefully

25:18

drive down the price, increase access,

25:20

and make it sustainable for people

25:22

to maintain use. The.

25:24

Last year's focus on these

25:27

drugs some would say hype.

25:30

Will it continue? Will people keep talking

25:32

about the same drugs the same way

25:34

when there isn't a man shortage? And

25:36

is that good or bad? Like, how

25:38

do you think about sir keeping the

25:40

momentum going. I think that we

25:43

are just getting started and there's a few

25:45

reasons why that's because one actually is the

25:47

short it's the right now the things that

25:49

be want to talk about things that we

25:51

talked about last year things and impacts us

25:53

was the shortage but. And. bad because

25:55

the demand and sort of the quote unquote out

25:57

of stock like that's topic that's discussion where the

26:00

But what are we going to talk about in 24 or 25 is when it ends, millions of people are

26:06

going to have seen the benefits. Well, then

26:08

people are going to want to talk about

26:10

what's the cascading impact on society? Look at

26:12

the impact that it's had on people's health.

26:15

Look at the impact it's had on the

26:17

grocery business or the restaurant business or travel

26:19

or the healthcare system, you name it, the

26:21

cascading impact. I think because we're just getting

26:23

started with access in the first

26:25

place and our

26:28

understanding, so only a few million people have

26:30

this, but 110 plus million people are

26:32

eligible. There's a long way to go

26:34

before we're done talking

26:37

about this because it really is,

26:39

and the pipeline is

26:41

tremendous as well. So it's

26:43

not just Wogowi or Zepic or

26:45

Zepbound, Munjaro and Sixenda, but over

26:48

the next three, five, 10 years, you're

26:50

going to see this. We're in the middle

26:53

of this Cambrian explosion of our understanding of

26:56

cardiometabolic health, which will lead to all

26:58

of these different inventions. So I think

27:00

that you will see the not only

27:02

this drug and this drug class, but

27:05

what this drug class spots

27:07

in terms of understanding our

27:09

overall health. Zach, thanks for jamming with us.

27:12

I do appreciate it. I appreciate the time

27:14

and thanks for the great questions, Bob. I'll

27:16

confess that the craze around weight loss

27:18

drugs took me by surprise. Maybe

27:21

it shouldn't have, but I'm still kind of

27:23

amazed that Zach saw it coming years ago.

27:26

What strikes me most is how

27:28

progress can emerge in unexpected ways

27:30

and unexpected areas. When

27:33

I first heard about these treatments, I

27:35

viewed it as just another fad in

27:37

the vanity-driven quest for thinness. But

27:40

as Zach describes it, it has the

27:42

potential to mitigate some of the biggest

27:44

drivers of disease, improving lifespans and health

27:46

spans and unleashing a slew

27:48

of other opportunities. Of

27:51

course, that potential isn't just about

27:53

science. Doctors like Rowe

27:55

and others play a critical role, ensuring

27:57

that these treatments are used responsibly. they

28:00

aren't just made available to the rich. We'll

28:02

keep watching and learning. I'm

28:05

Bob Safian, thanks for listening. Rapid

28:09

Response is a Wait What original. I'm

28:12

Bob Safian. Our executive producer

28:15

is Eve Trove. The

28:17

production team includes Chris Gautier, Alex

28:20

Morris, Mashimaku Tonina, and

28:22

Brandon Klein. Audio

28:24

editing by Keith J. Nelson, Steven

28:27

Davies, Steven Wells,

28:30

and Andrew Nault. Mixing

28:33

and mastering by Aaron Bastinelli. Original

28:36

music by Eduardo Rivera and

28:38

Ryan Holiday. Our head

28:40

of podcasts is Lital Mollad. Visit

28:43

mastersofscale.com to find the transcript for

28:45

this episode and to subscribe to

28:48

our email newsletter. How do you think about sort

28:50

of keeping

28:52

the momentum going? I

28:58

think that we are just getting started. And

29:00

there's a few reasons why that's the case.

29:03

One actually is the shortage. So right now the things

29:05

that people want to talk about, things that we talked

29:07

about last year, things that impacted us was the shortage.

29:10

But, and that because of the

29:12

demand and sort of the quote unquote out of

29:14

stock, like that's topic, that's discussion worthy. But

29:16

what are we going to see, what are we going to talk about in 24 or 25 when

29:19

it ends, right? Millions of people

29:21

are going to have seen the benefits. Well then people are

29:24

going to want to talk about what's

29:26

the cascading impact on society? Look at the

29:28

impact that it's had on people's health. Look

29:30

at the impact it's had on the grocery

29:32

business or the restaurant business or travel or

29:34

the healthcare system, you name it. The sort

29:36

of cascading impact. So I think because we're

29:39

just getting started with access in

29:41

the first place and our

29:44

understanding. So only a few million

29:46

people have this, but 110 plus million people are

29:48

eligible. There's a long way to

29:50

go before we're done talking

29:53

about this because it really is,

29:56

and the pipeline is tremendous as well.

29:58

So It's not just. Go V or or

30:01

or that beggars a pound mean John sucks and

30:03

there. Over the next

30:05

three five, ten years you're going to see

30:07

this worst were in the middle of the

30:09

cambrian explosion of our understanding of of

30:11

cardio metabolic health which will lead to all

30:14

of these difference and Benson So I think

30:16

that you will see this not only this

30:18

drug in this drug class. But.

30:20

What this drug class spots and

30:22

in in terms of understanding our

30:25

overall health that thanks for dealing

30:27

with us I do appreciate it.

30:29

I present time thanks to their questions about. I'll.

30:32

Confess that the craze, wrong, weight

30:34

loss, drugs took me by surprise.

30:36

Maybe it shouldn't have, but I'm

30:39

still kind of amazed exact saw

30:41

it coming years ago. What strikes

30:43

me most is how progress can

30:45

emerge in unexpected ways and unexpected

30:47

areas. When. I first heard

30:50

about these treatments. I viewed it

30:52

as just another fab in their

30:54

vanity driven quest for thinness, but

30:56

exact describes it. It has the

30:58

potential to mitigate some of the

31:00

biggest drivers of disease, improving life

31:02

spans and health spans, and unleashing

31:04

a slew of other opportunities. Of.

31:06

Of course, that potential isn't just about

31:09

science. Businesses like Row and others play

31:11

a critical role ensuring that these treatments

31:13

are used responsibly and if they aren't

31:15

just made available to the rich. Will.

31:18

Keep watching and learning. About

31:21

Sassy And thanks for listening! And

31:23

now a final word from our

31:25

brand partner, Capital One Business. Well

31:31

as any clear was that the customer with

31:33

missing. Were. Back one

31:36

more time with a part theron of

31:38

Capital One business. She learned that she

31:40

couldn't refocus or department strategy without bringing

31:42

her team along. Amendment listening

31:44

when they told her what was missing

31:46

the customer a partner realize that putting

31:49

the customer front and center but actually

31:51

unify her team. I

31:54

have folks who are traditionally marketers

31:56

and customers the top thing on

31:58

their minds. and then as. Analysts

32:00

who spend their time on dig it

32:02

up and it's very easy to get

32:04

stuck into that domain. I have a

32:07

real opportunity to get both sides to

32:09

see each other's perspective and meet in

32:11

the middle. Because. A

32:13

part of steam couldn't pivot. Without. Bringing

32:15

the customers along, We

32:17

call ourselves steel Magnate. Our job

32:20

is to attract and retain customers

32:22

so just creates a sense of

32:24

working together. A partners

32:26

revised version statement Cause T

32:28

Magnet a customer centric data

32:30

powered machine. The Vision

32:32

statement that I have right now is

32:35

a hundred times better version of what

32:37

I had at the beginning of the

32:39

Earth, and it has evolved and improved.

32:41

As a result of these conversations he

32:43

continued to have within. The was a sardine.

32:47

Capital. One Business is proud to support

32:49

entrepreneurs and leaders working to scale their

32:51

impact from fortune five hundred to first

32:53

time business owners. For. More resources

32:56

to help drive your business

32:58

forward. For the Capital one.com/business

33:01

hub, That's Capital one.com/business Hub.

33:06

Rapid Response is a wait.

33:09

What original I'm Bob Sapp

33:11

are Executive producer is Eve

33:14

Trump. The production team includes

33:16

Chris Go To A, Alex,

33:19

Maurice Moss or Makoto Nina

33:21

and Brand Inclined. Audio editing

33:24

by Cj Nelson, Steven Davies,

33:26

Even Wells and Andrew Nos

33:29

Mixing and mastering by Aaron.

33:31

Best Finale Original music by

33:34

Eduardo Rivera and Ryan Holiday.

33:37

Or had a podcast is lee

33:39

Tall know lot is a massive

33:41

scale.com to find the transcript for

33:43

this episode and to subscribe to

33:45

our email news.

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