WEBVTT - Timblerlake on V-GO Insulin Delivery Device (Correct) (Audio) 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.120 Now on Bloomberg Radio, we take stock of healthcare. The 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.480 issue of drug pricing has been at the forefront, certainly 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.640 in the political realm for the last few months. We're 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.040 living in a very special time in the history of 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.200 the pharmaceutical industry. Let me three percent of all biotechts 0:00:15.200 --> 0:00:17.919 that start actually get a drug approved. It's a very 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.520 hard thing to do. Bloomberg taking stop healthcare and focus 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:26.640 on Bloomberg Radio. Yes, healthcare in focus and diabetes in focus. 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.560 Turning our attention now to those people who at some 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.280 point may have to inject themselves up to twenty eight 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.480 times a week with insulin. Here to tell us more 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.680 about some of the alternatives is John Timberlake. He is 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.360 the president and the chief executive of Valeritas, and he 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.960 joins me now. John, thank you very much for being here. 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.599 Thank you, thanks for having me. Well, you know, just 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.600 before we get into the details of some of the 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.600 v GO system, maybe just tell people a little bit 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.600 about your background, because you've been involved in diabetes even 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.080 before you came to Valeritas in two thousand six. That's correct. 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.520 I have spent the last twenty five years focused in 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.800 the air diabetes. I spent fifteen years within the company 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.280 pharmaceutical called Santa Fee responsible for um the diabetes portfolio 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.240 from the phase one up through and on the market. 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.280 And I came to Valaritas ten years ago because I 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.960 saw this technology as something really could net an unmet 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.000 need for the Type two patient with diabetes. All right, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.040 let's talk about this technology. This is the v GO 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.520 technology and it is wearable on the skin and it's 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.000 just about two inches long. What it actually does it do? 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.520 So the Vego is a very simple, easy to use product. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:43.800 It is a wearable patch that is um completely mechanical. 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.640 There's no electronics, there's no batteries. The patient can put 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.520 this on their on their body, leave the house and 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:50.000 have all the ins and they need for the day. 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.000 So it delivers a constant flow of insulin throughout twenty 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.840 four hours. And then when the patient eats, they can 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:59.600 very discreetly and easily give themselves additional insulin around meal 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.440 times by simply clicking buttons on the device through their clothing. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:05.720 So they could be sitting at a restaurant or the cafeteria. 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.480 And there's a really big social stigma with people taking 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.880 type or Type two is taken insulin in public because 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:14.440 society has kind of blamed them for having type two diabetes. Well, 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.200 tell people a little bit more about it, like what 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.040 is it that causes type two diabetes and what is 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.600 the addressable market. So diabetes, type two diabetes is really 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.960 as a multi factory disease. It's both the combination the 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:28.760 body not using the instant the body can make and 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:32.040 the body not making enough insulin. So it's a very large, 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.839 unfortunate opportunity because there's so many people who have type 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.320 two diabetes. In the United States alone, there were twenty 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.120 two million people who have diabetes, six million of them 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:45.120 are type twos. Are taking insulint through injections of these 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.920 patients do not reach the reach their seem to control. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.400 And so that's a huge unmet need of more and 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.560 happening in patients who could benefit from a product like 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.840 the Vego. The Food and Drug Administration has given approval 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.239 for Vigo. Correct, that's correct. The Vego is commercial rights. 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.639 It's it's the only product approved by the FDA that 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.960 has a mechanical delivery of incident for both background and 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.040 meal time insulin. It's also approved by the European Committee. 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.679 And what kind of efficacy. Have you found in UH 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.639 in patients that use this versus let's say, injectable insulin. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:21.320 We've demonstrated quite a breath of clinical studies showing the 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:23.520 patients who are taking injectable insulin when they go to 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.680 the vego, they significally lower their glucose. They do that 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.520 with less prescribed insulin, so that allows them to actually 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.040 get better results using less insulin and actually saving the 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.400 payer system money because of that. Um it's very interesting. 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.480 Of those six million people who take insulin, A large 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.600 study asked these patients who are prescribed meal time insulin 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.680 and sevy two percent said they never take ins and 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.640 out of the house, So it's a huge problem for 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.400 these patients. By wearing the vego underneath their clothing and 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.120 simply being able to click buttons when they eat gives 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:55.000 them the ability to control their diabetes better. What about 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.960 the cost of vigo their beauty. The good thing about 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.280 the vego is this is a single use, fullly disposable product, 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:04.000 so it's not classified as a durable medical equipment, which 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:08.360 is very very important for the reimbursement. Therefore, it's actually reimbursed, 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.320 distributed and fulfilled more like a drug at the pharmacy. 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.760 Ninety five percent of our product was fulfilled the pharmacy. Therefore, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.080 those patients go to the pharmacy with the prescription and 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.919 they pay a monthly co pay. There's no large deductibles 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:22.320 and co insurance like there is with durable equipment and 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.160 durable insulin pumps. A couple of questions, so about the company, 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.440 I know you did an alternative initial public offering, I 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.520 believe back in May correct. What is an alternative public 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.120 offering and why did you go that route? So essentially, 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.359 an alternative public offering is essentially a company merging in 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.840 with an already public company and then taking over and 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:45.200 using that company as a public company. So you're right, 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.560 Laritas now is a public company. We are traded with 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:49.919 the chicker v l r X, and we did that 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.560 because we're a company now that's at a commercial stage. 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.600 We're an execution stage. We have regatory approval in the 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.240 US and in um Europe. We are producing this at 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.000 commercial scale. All we have a large clerical, steady data 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.720 that's been published, and we have good reimbursement. So really 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:07.000 it's the right time to access the public markets to 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:10.000 help support the growth of the company, And what about distribution. 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.040 Who's you have a partner or you're doing that. We 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.440 do know we're actually doing this ourselves today yet. But 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.440 because the product is distributed through the pharmacy channel, we 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:19.719 basically can provide that product to any pharmacy in the 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.560 country through the wholesalers. I want to thank you very 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.800 much for coming in and sharing this information with us, right, 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.600 Thank you very much. John Timberlake is the president and 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:34.240 the chief executive of Valeritas talking about a new wearable device. 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.799 It's called Vigo. You wear it on the skin under clothing. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.360 It's about two inches long, and it fills you with 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.640 the insulin that you need all day long. This is 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:48.360 taking Stock. I'm pim Fox, and this is Bloomberg.