Nearly 90% of Americans suffer from metabolic disease, Manu Diwakar tells us, citing a recent McKinsey & Company study. For Diwakar, CFO of Virta Health, that statistic defines both the scale of the challenge and the clarity of the mission.
Metabolic disease, he explains, includes type 2 diabetes, obesity, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease, and high blood pressure—“branches of a tree,” he tells us, all sharing the same root cause: poor nutrition. Virta’s model blends medical professionals and technology to reverse those conditions, partnering with insurers, employers, and government entities in a B2B2C framework.
Read MoreFrom a finance perspective, the impact is measurable. Diwakar tells us Virta uses pharmacy and medical claims data to compare enrolled members with non-enrolled employees who share the same conditions—creating what he describes as a “really clean A/B test.” For type 2 diabetes, the company delivers a “two-to-one ROI,” he tells us, making the value proposition tangible.
In a market captivated by GLP-1 drugs, the numbers sharpen further. Virta charges about $150 per month, Diwakar tells us, compared with roughly $1,000 per month list price for GLP-1s—about $500 after rebates. More important, he notes that when patients stop GLP-1s, weight often returns. By targeting the root cause—nutrition habits—Virta aims to make results sustainable and long-lasting, he tells us.
For Diwakar, disciplined measurement and root-cause thinking align strategy with impact—improving health while lowering cost.
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CFOTL: Tell us about Virta Health. What’s it about? What are its offerings?
Diwakar: Let me start with what we do and who we serve. Virta reverses metabolic disease, which is a relatively new term. McKinsey & Company recently published a study suggesting close to 90% of Americans suffer from metabolic disease. It’s a broad set of conditions with the same root cause—type 2 diabetes, obesity, liver disease, kidney disease, heart disease, high blood pressure. They’re all branches of the same tree. The root cause is poor nutrition. That’s the whole ball game. Generally speaking, you get calories from three sources—fats, protein, and carbohydrates—and most people don’t have that balance right. Virta works with members and patients, combining medical professionals and technology to help them reverse metabolic disease. We partner with the people paying for healthcare—insurance companies, employers, and sometimes the government—because if people get metabolically healthy, they cost a lot less to care for. It’s a B2B2C model, and that’s what we deliver.
CFOTL: From a CFO’s perspective, how do you quantify clinical outcomes?
Diwakar: From the CFO’s perspective, it’s pretty simple. When you work with a client, you have employees who are enrolled in Virta and employees who are not. You can use healthcare claims data—both pharmacy claims and medical claims—to understand the total cost of care for Virta members versus non-Virta members with the same diseases and conditions. It creates a really clean A/B test. For type 2 diabetes, what we’re able to deliver is a two-to-one ROI on the members we treat for our clients. That data is incredibly powerful in making the argument that your patients cost a lot less.
CFOTL: I was reading that Virta positions itself as a sustainable GLP-1 off-ramp. How does finance evaluate the long-term cost savings narrative in a market captivated by these new drugs and therapies?
Diwakar: I think it’s relatively straightforward. If a member is on Virta, their weight loss is almost identical to what GLP-1s deliver. For folks we treat for weight loss, we charge about $150 a month. The list price of GLP-1s for most employers is about $1,000 per patient per month. With rebates, it’s roughly $500. Even cash pay with Eli Lilly and Company or Novo Nordisk is a few hundred dollars. So for a typical client—an employer—you’d much rather see identical weight loss at a much lower cost. The second thing is most people don’t take drugs forever, and most people don’t want to. We know that if you stop taking GLP-1s, weight comes back. (There’s) research published on our website looking at what happens at Virta for patients who stay on Virta after they’ve been deprescribed GLP-1s versus those who continue on Virta, and if you stay on Virta and stop taking GLP-1s, we can keep the weight off. It’s pretty simple because we’re attacking the root cause problem—changing nutrition habits—so the changes are sustainable and long-lasting.
Virta Health | www.virtahealth.com | Denver, CO