Tom Brady, Linda Yaccarino Team Up to Expand Access to GLP-1s

0:00 Let's talk a little bit about how this all came together,

0:02 and I'll start with both of you individually.

0:04 And, Slynda, I'll start with you because you took the helm

0:08 of eMed after spending two years as the CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter.

0:14 And I would just love to hear about, you know, how that happened.

0:18 What sort of translates from social media into, you know,

0:22 running a telehealth company?

0:24 I thank you so much.

0:25 It's a great question.

0:26 And when I look back on my career, which will,

0:29 I think, logically explain how I landed at eMed,

0:32 you could probably mark it by one or two words,

0:36 and it would be transformation led by technology transformation and innovation.

0:40 Right?

0:41 So throughout my career, whether I was at NBCU for so long,

0:45 one of the outputs of that was launching Peacock to then

0:48 go to, Twitter and then x and creating the global town square.

0:53 It made sense once I decided to leave x, what should I do next?

0:58 And about six months prior to leaving x,

1:00 I became a chair of the board of eMed's director consumer business in England,

1:06 the number one female focused GLP one business.

1:09 And why it all came together is because what I learned and was so

1:14 impacted by the profound nature of the power of these g l p one medications.

1:19 And I certainly knew that access needed to happen for people,

1:23 particularly in The United States.

1:25 Yeah.

1:26 60% of people get their benefits from their employer.

1:29 Right.

1:30 And only one in five employers cover GLP ones right now.

1:34 So once I was really thinking and considering what to do,

1:39 tackling transformation in health care to give people access

1:42 to these life changing medications was a was an easy answer.

1:45 Well, let's talk about the Tom Brady

1:46 of it all because that certainly makes sense, you know, transforming partner.

1:49 Transforming x, now transforming eMed.

1:51 But, Tom, how did you get involved with eMed, and who called who?

1:57 Well, I've been involved in health and wellness for a long time.

1:59 I think as an athlete, realized that my body was my asset,

2:01 so I had to take good care of it.

2:03 And every day, I had to put the right foods in my body.

2:07 I had to have the right hydration, the right workouts,

2:09 the right training in order for me to go out

2:11 there and accomplish my job to the best of my ability.

2:15 I started a health and wellness business in 2013 based around

2:18 all the things that I knew and that I desired and I

2:21 wanted other people to understand about how to keep their bodies

2:23 and how they can stay active for a long period of time.

2:26 But I also realized there's a lot of discipline that comes

2:29 to making those daily decisions that allow you to be healthy.

2:32 And a lot of times, they couldn't take on this kinda Navy

2:35 Seal type training that I did as an athlete because Not many can.

2:39 Yeah.

2:39 Not many can.

2:40 We we spend hours in our day, and we have great resources to be able to do that.

2:44 So what I realized with health in my post retirement was

2:47 a lot of times you have to meet people where they're at.

2:49 Yeah.

2:50 And you have to kick start people's

2:51 journey and partnering with Linda and our friend

2:54 Michael Ferro who founded the company has become

2:56 a great friend of mine down in Miami.

2:57 Mhmm.

2:57 I think we can really help a lot of people.

2:59 And and like I said, to to get people on the right program

3:02 with the right individuals that's really tailored to them,

3:05 they can start to begin to see some great health improvements in their life.

3:08 But I'm sure you have to sort

3:10 of recognize the potential criticism that somebody like you,

3:12 a world cap athlete, I don't think anyone's ever seen you out of shape.

3:16 And yet, you know, you're pitching a GLP one, alternative for some folks.

3:20 And I understand the need, but why listen to Tom Brady?

3:23 Why not listen to I don't think you should listen

3:25 to your health care professionals who you should listen to.

3:27 That's the most important thing.

3:29 I think for me, the ability to promote things that I really strongly believe in.

3:34 And, again, it's really about being proactive about your health.

3:36 And one thing I realized, I was able to achieve great things in my life

3:40 and my career because I was very proactive.

3:42 I didn't wait to get injured.

3:43 I didn't wait to get sick.

3:45 Mhmm.

3:45 I tried to stay ahead of those things.

3:46 I never wanted to be injured.

3:47 If I'm I was injured, I missed the game.

3:49 Yeah.

3:49 I couldn't do what I love to do.

3:50 So now that I get to go out there and do

3:52 what I love to do in this next part of my life,

3:55 which is try to help other people give them the best

3:58 information possible so that they can make the right decision for themselves.

4:01 I think it's really important to point out it's a why Tom Brady of it all.

4:05 In order for you yeah.

4:08 Come and go.

4:08 The importance is that you have to qualify to get on the EMED program.

4:13 Yeah.

4:13 You have to take a blood test.

4:15 You have to qualify through a variety of biomarkers that we check.

4:19 Mhmm.

4:19 And we wanna make sure that you're one

4:21 of those people that wanna take control of your own

4:24 health and take advantage of the in unbelievable

4:27 incremental nature of what these GLP one medications do.

4:31 So tackle chronic diseases Right.

4:32 In their tracks.

4:33 So it's not like other companies where you can

4:36 just fill out a form and get a prescription.

4:38 No.

4:38 You stay with us.

4:39 So so you're working with the employer.

4:41 This is basically a flat fee model more or less here.

4:43 Be.

4:43 Yes.

4:43 Is there any concern going forward

4:46 as the cost of GLP one prescriptions goes down, oral medications come on?

4:50 As that cost compresses, does that affect your fee model in any way?

4:55 Actually so exciting because we're finally at a point where we have eMed

5:00 delivers access to so many people that it's been out of reach Mhmm.

5:04 Because of the cost.

5:05 So we have this health intervention of a lifetime moment.

5:09 So there's a health solution for so many chronic diseases.

5:12 Mhmm.

5:13 And now we have a cost solution for employers

5:16 because now it's affordable for them to cover to it,

5:19 and that's exactly where eMed sits at the intersection of that.

5:22 Are you gonna do secondary markets?

5:24 Like, mean, I didn't you have a partnership, I believe, with CVS or no?

5:27 We have a partnership with CVS, a strategic investor, like Aon.

5:32 So imagine these gold standard companies coming together like minded Gotcha.

5:37 Woven together to break the cost curve and impact population health.

5:42 What a good seat to be sitting in.

5:45 I do wanna talk a little bit about how

5:48 the introduction of GLP one pills has potentially changed anything.

5:51 When you think about how, you know,

5:54 willing employers are to cover some of these medications,

5:56 it's only been a couple of months, but are you seeing any sort of impact there?

6:01 Yeah.

6:01 We're seeing an expansion of the total addressable market.

6:05 It's really interesting data, but unprecedented adoption of the oral pills

6:10 from the early data that's coming out.

6:13 And also important to note, one of the biggest adopters or segments are men

6:18 because they have hesitancy when it comes to injections,

6:21 but they're much more open.

6:23 Tell me more.

6:24 Yeah.

6:24 Exactly.

6:25 Why is everyone so scared of a little nail break?

6:28 Well, you know, some of us Tom.

6:29 You know?

6:30 Women braver, stronger.

6:31 It's true.

6:32 But but so the the that's why there's unprecedented demand

6:35 and why it's we're kind of in a moment here Yeah.

6:38 Where the opportunity to be able to talk that's what we're doing here at Milken,

6:43 talking to CEOs, talking to CFOs, that now breaking the cost curve Mhmm.

6:47 Is that time is here.

6:48 We're able to do that.

6:50 I do wanna go back to the Tom Brady of it all a little bit more because go.

6:53 Tom, you mentioned that, obviously,

6:56 health and wellness is a huge personal thing of yours,

7:00 and you mentioned that, you know, you founded your own companies in the past.

7:03 We talked to a lot of former athletes

7:05 on the close actually about how they sort of approach dog.

7:08 That's actually true.

7:09 But how do you evaluate different business opportunities?

7:12 How do you decide what to put your name to?

7:15 And, I mean, how many things are you saying no to at this point?

7:18 Quite a bit.

7:19 Yeah.

7:19 I get that.

7:20 Different opportunities based on, you know,

7:22 what people are really looking for and how they

7:24 want me to kinda play a role in their business.

7:26 But I think I wanna add a lot of value to what I'm doing.

7:29 It's not just really even with the med,

7:31 really being involved with Linda and and our friend

7:34 Michael who's the founder of the company,

7:35 some of the decision making, how we're going after,

7:37 and how we we're attacking the solution is what's very important.

7:41 So to be involved in different because I I love learning.

7:44 I love growing.

7:45 As an athlete, I surrounded myself with incredible mentors over

7:48 the course of my life that I was able to learn from.

7:51 I was to take the things that they could

7:53 teach me and then try to apply that going forward.

7:55 Now I'm still kind of relatively young in my business career,

7:59 but I feel like I have lot of room for growth.

8:01 But you're doing well.

8:02 Are you gonna take this money, whatever you make off of eMed and put

8:04 that more into the Raiders and increase that?

8:06 On the Raiders for sure.

8:08 We're Okay.

8:08 There's lot to be improved, but that's that's it.

8:11 You know?

8:11 Football's my that's always been my first love.

8:13 I'm just really, truly obsessed with that.

8:15 But you're gonna stay tethered to the NFL in some way,

8:18 whether as as ownership or broadcasting or whatever.

8:20 Yeah.

8:20 Love football.

8:21 I love team sports, and I love that it keeps everyone engaged,

8:23 and I love that there's real outcomes every day.

8:25 I think the purest thing about sports is that we can see how well we prepared.

8:28 We can see what kind of work we put

8:30 in because there's a scoreboard on each end of the stadium.

8:32 You get to see how you did.

8:34 There's something really finite about that that we're all compelled to watch

8:37 and being involved with it for as long as I have.

8:39 It's kind of, like I said, my first level I wanna be in for the rest of my life.