Dubai, United Arab Emirates – With a waitlist now open and launching in December 2022, health tech start-up meta[bolic] has announced the debut of its unique six-month weight-loss program called ‘Zone’, combining personalized metabolic data with a ‘clinic-in-the-cloud’ model. meta[bolic] is a behavioural change platform that synthesizes the human and machine in the pursuit of enduring change in human behaviour and lasting outcomes in treating metabolic disease.
meta[bolic] tackles the global metabolic disease endemic head-on from a first-principles basis. That includes heavy investment in technological infrastructure to power a robust data-first approach to guiding its patients on a path to better health, but it also consists of a back-to-basics view on brick-and-mortar clinical footprints to enhance the patient journey. meta[bolic] began as the engine behind the world-leading diabetes management platform GluCare.Health. It is this core engine that has now expanded to deliver value to non-diabetics on a weight loss journey.
Weight management has long been a critical issue across most GCC countries, with GCC members consistently ranking among the most obese countries on earth, according to data from World Obesity. Studies and data from DMS Journal and World Obesity show that across both locals and expats in the UAE, seven out of ten individuals are currently either overweight or obese.
“meta[bolic]’s data analytic platform helps Zone members and their coaches identify the biological blockers that prevent the individual from losing weight. The Zone multidisciplinary team helps patients reach sustainable weight loss results over a six-month period through a combination of doctor-prescribed FDA-approved medication, wearables that provide digital biomarkers, and behavioural modification. This is the second offering from meta[bolic] after launching GluCare.Health two years ago, a hybrid digital therapeutics company focused on diabetes. The results and clinical outcomes that GluCare.Health has delivered are vastly superior to regular episodic diabetes care,” mentions Ali Hashemi, Co-founder of meta[bolic].
Medical studies show that the guarantee of weight loss by using weight-loss medication only – and not implementing parallel behavioural changes – can result in a 5% loss of a person’s body weight. By contrast, Zone Health’s pre-launch clinical study with its members showed that, on average, a person who follows the complete program loses 10% or more of their body weight over six months. In fact, the latest Zone health research of 179 members showed an average weight loss ratio of 11.48% over this period.
“Our proprietary Continuous Metabolic Monitoring platform unlocks a data-driven, hyper-personalized approach to tackling obesity. This is a far more effective and sustainable way to reduce weight, as evidenced by our pre-launch clinical study. We believe this to be the future of medicated weight loss. It is important to note that beyond providing general lifestyle modification advice when prescribing these medications, healthcare providers do not currently track their patients’ health, nor do they have any data on their patients’ weight loss journey until the next physical visit. Traditional episodic approaches to medicated weight loss are hit-and-miss, usually resulting in limited outcomes and greatly frustrates patients,” says Dr Ihsan Almarzooqi, Co-founder of meta[bolic].
The meta[bolic] founders are so confident in Zone that they have put elements of the program at risk, i.e. patients who do not lose the target weight will be refunded.
“We built Zone based on the same principles of value-based medicine that has earned GluCare.Health global recognition as a disruptive platform. Our north star of engendering sustainable lifestyle change is strongly linked to patient outcomes and allows our incentives to remain fully aligned with our patients. The alternative, unfortunately, is what currently exists in the market: zero accountability from healthcare providers and continued patient distrust,” added Hashemi.
To achieve these results, Zone guides members on a six-month programme. It includes a virtual physician meeting, followed by an onboarding visit from the nursing team at the member’s home or office, where a blood sample is collected, and wearables are connected. A dedicated Dietitian and Coach set out the primary goals and an initial observation period, known as Continuous Metabolic Monitoring, looks at the cause and effect of personal choices of nutrition, sleep and exercise on glycemic variability. Medications are introduced in the next phase, with medication titration happening in real time, depending on the results. The members’ zone.health care team comprises an endocrinologist, dietitian, and coach, who monitor, engage and provide continuous feedback to members through the zone.health app. This holistic approach of personal data monitoring and precision medication improves metabolic health and achieves sustainable weight loss quickly and safely.
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About meta[bolic]:
meta[bolic] is a hybrid digital therapeutics company that tackles the global metabolic health crisis head-on from a first-principles basis and synthesizes the human and machine in the pursuit of enduring behaviour change and lasting outcomes. That includes heavy investment in a robust data-first approach to guiding its patients on a path to better health, but it also consists of a back-to-basics view on the role of the human and brick-and-mortar clinical footprints to enhance the patient journey. It operates a full-stack clinical footprint under the brand GluCare.Health, and also manages non-diabetic members with metabolic health concerns under a direct-to-consumer medicated weight management program called Zone.Health.
About Zone.Health:
Zone is a direct-to-consumer medicated weight management program powered by meta[bolic]’s Continuous Metabolic Monitoring data analytic platform. It helps its members identify and manage the biological blockers that prevent them from losing weight. The Zone team helps members reach sustainable weight loss over a six-month period through a combination of doctor-prescribed FDA-approved medication, wearables that provide digital biomarkers, and behavioural modification.
It does not require a member to be diabetic, but there are eligibility criteria that factor into the choice of prescription medication and therapeutic plan. Zone targets a 10% average weight reduction for its members.
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