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Speaker 1: Well, let's turn to a company that's become ever more

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Speaker 1: technologically native. In fact, they've hired a previous Silicon Valley

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Speaker 1: style weight Watchers of course, known as WW International. In

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Speaker 1: this week's Bloomberg Business Week is part of Well, the

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Speaker 1: cover story, it's all about the sixty year old company,

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Speaker 1: and it's been on pharmaceuticals as the next frontier for

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Speaker 1: innovation in the weight loss space in a bit to

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Speaker 1: keep up with the times. Now, let's discuss all of this,

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Speaker 1: and please to welcome the CEO, Seema Sistani, who joins

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Speaker 1: us now. And you know you were building house party.

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Speaker 1: You were deeply within the tech space, building companies, selling

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Speaker 1: them innovating. Your job now is to innovate at weight

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Speaker 1: watches and part of that is making acquisitions in the

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Speaker 1: telehealth space. Just talk to us about how this key

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Speaker 1: acquisition is helping you drive forward with pharmaceuticals.

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Speaker 2: Yes, thank you for having me so coming in as CEO.

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Speaker 2: What is just a year and change now? I knew

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Speaker 2: part of the vision was about rethinking the business from

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Speaker 2: a digital first perspective, one based on commune, which is,

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Speaker 2: as you mentioned, where I've spent most of my career

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Speaker 2: in growth tech doing I had first experience first as

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Speaker 2: a member on the program, and so I was really

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Speaker 2: excited about bringing something new and fresh to the product

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Speaker 2: on a global scale and something that would allow me

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Speaker 2: to take all my growth technoledge to growth tech experience,

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Speaker 2: excuse me and knowledge and then have meaningful outcomes.

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Speaker 3: For global health.

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Speaker 2: So anyways, I had been looking at this research on

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Speaker 2: blue zones and how to create a digital blue zone,

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Speaker 2: and we investigated new modalities both across functional and clinical,

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Speaker 2: and what stood out most is that obesity is a

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Speaker 2: chronic condition.

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Speaker 3: It still hasn't been addressed.

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Speaker 2: Truly in that manner, when in fact, for over ten

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Speaker 2: years it's been scientifically recognized as a chronic condition.

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Speaker 3: And so we wanted to enter the.

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Speaker 2: Space and be able to extend our toolkit to not

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Speaker 2: only behavior change and functional but also clinical interventions.

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Speaker 1: So interesting is yesterday we learned that another tech executive,

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Speaker 1: social media tech executive, Jeff Cook, is joining Noom, which

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Speaker 1: is a kind of competitor which is also in the

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Speaker 1: weightless startup transition prescribing obesity drugs. How do you compete?

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Speaker 1: How do you stand out? How do you make sure

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Speaker 1: that you're loyal? Following doesn't become disenchanted by the shift.

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Speaker 2: Well, well, I mean I think that there are two

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Speaker 2: There are two questions in there and the first one

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Speaker 2: that I want to address is the prevalence. And you

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Speaker 2: know of obesity in the US, take for instance, since

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Speaker 2: nineteen ninety three, the prevalence was about thirteen percent and

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Speaker 2: now we're talking forty two percent prevalence. And you know,

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Speaker 2: the trajectory is going to get us to fifty percent

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Speaker 2: prevalence of people living with obesity by twenty thirty.

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Speaker 3: So this is a matter of rising tides lifts all ships.

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Speaker 2: We are we are as the leaders in the space,

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Speaker 2: wanting to make sure that this is something that we

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Speaker 2: can address globally and that we're doing it responsibly.

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Speaker 3: And yes, you.

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Speaker 2: Certainly there have been members who we have to bring

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Speaker 2: along in the journey. And it's on us to really

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Speaker 2: destigmatize this category. And people understand that it's not just

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Speaker 2: about willpower. For many, it's not a moral failing. That

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Speaker 2: this is a chronic relapsing condition and in some cases

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Speaker 2: requires a clinical intervention for people to see long term

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Speaker 2: success and longevity.

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Speaker 1: Talk to us about any program you might launch, whether

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Speaker 1: or not it's through sequence that people manage to access

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Speaker 1: these obesity drugs, whether it's somewhere else. You're sort of

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Speaker 1: trying to build a program, as I understand it, to

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Speaker 1: do with this acquisition that helps people build a lifestyle.

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Speaker 1: How many people do you think would ultimately sign on?

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Speaker 1: When might we see such a launch and how sure?

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I think it's important to remind people that

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Speaker 2: the medications, and particularly the clinical trial was called step

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Speaker 2: that really led to every the media being excited and

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Speaker 2: the really the zeit guy shifting to thinking about these medications.

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Speaker 2: This was a trial that was run alongside lifestyle treatment,

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Speaker 2: meaning that these patients were receiving guidance on diet and activity.

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Speaker 2: They were done in conjunction with a calorie deficit. And

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Speaker 2: so it's a misconception that these are a magic pill

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Speaker 2: that you just take and lose weight. You must do

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Speaker 2: them alongside lifestyle intervention. And that's what the medications help

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Speaker 2: you do, is have greater adherence to the healthy habits

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Speaker 2: that come naturally to something. And so what we are

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Speaker 2: developing alongside of our tried and true number one doctor

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Speaker 2: recommended program for behavior change is one that is very

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Speaker 2: specific to people who are on the GLP one journey

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Speaker 2: because they need help with maintenance of lean muscle mass,

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Speaker 2: nutrient density and doing so alongside of the titration, the

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Speaker 2: dosage trite excuse me. Titration is going to be really

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Speaker 2: important to achieving the best outcomes.

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Speaker 3: And so we plan to introduce this program in the fall.

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Speaker 2: And that would be for people who get the medications

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Speaker 2: through our virtual clinics sequence or not. So if you

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Speaker 2: are somebody who who's gotten the medication through your healthcare provider,

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Speaker 2: you know these providers in a lot of cases are

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Speaker 2: not trained in OBC medication. Less than one percent of

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Speaker 2: doctors are, and so this will be a program that

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Speaker 2: will be able to have a higher touch support for

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Speaker 2: those people.

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Speaker 1: Fascinating innovations. We'd love you to come back and talk

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Speaker 1: about it a little bit longer next time. We thank

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Speaker 1: you for your time. Wait watch your CEO Semasustani as

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Speaker 1: it's known as ww International