- Alfie Health built an algorithm to create personalized treatment plans for obesity.
- The startup last month announced $2.1 million in seed funding from Y Combinator and others.
- It partners with healthcare clinics to provide virtual obesity care to patients.
Digital-health startups are lining up to prescribe weight-loss drugs to get in on a booming market.
Alfie Health is jumping in the ring with perhaps the only selling point in healthcare right now that’s hotter than weight-loss medications — artificial intelligence.
The online-only startup wants to make obesity care more efficient and effective with its algorithm, ObesityRx. The tech analyzes a patient’s medical history, responses to Alfie Health’s intake survey, and lab-test results to determine which weight-loss medications are likely to be most effective for that patient.
“It allows us to speed up the process of figuring out up front what might be causing someone to gain weight, versus lengthy questions and multiple visits down the road,” CEO Alexander Singh said.
Alfie Health runs as a virtual obesity-care clinic to provide video visits with doctors and health coaches, with individual treatment plans developed using ObesityRx. An app helps patients track their weight loss.
In June, Alfie Health raised $2.1 million in pre-seed funding led by Y Combinator and Nina Capital. The round also included Goodwater Capital, Phoenix Investment Club, and several angel investors.
The startup announced results of a study it began in August with 300 patients. After nine months of using Alfie Health, those patients lost an average of 10% to 15% of their body weight, the company said.
None of the 300 patients were prescribed GLP-1 agonists such as Wegovy or Ozempic, the new class of injectable weight-loss drugs that have taken the healthcare market by storm.
Alfie Health does offer GLP-1s, but Singh said only a small percentage of its patients got prescribed the drugs. Most are prescribed another weight-loss medication or a combination of medications suggested by the startup’s algorithm.
Though GLP-1s have exploded in popularity for their potential to induce significant weight loss, they’re expensive — without insurance coverage, the drugs can cost $1,000 or more a month. Plus, Wegovy has been in short supply.
The 10% to 15% average weight loss from Alfie Health’s study is comparable to the weight loss reported in GLP-1 trials, Singh said.
“Obesity medications are not a one-size-fits-all. Different underlying conditions causing obesity need different treatments,” he said.
Here’s the presentation Alfie Health used to raise $2.1 million.
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