Rob MacNaughton, the former CEO of NurseGrid and former chief product officer at Cambia Health Solutions, has started a new chapter in his digital health career.
MacNaughton became the new CEO of Calibrate in early February. The company specializes in digital metabolic health, with a focus on GLP-1 drugs, such as the much-touted Ozempic and Wegovy, and promoting changes in lifestyle and diet.
MacNaughton is based in Portland, but Calibrate is based in New York. Isabelle Kenyon founded the company in 2020 and has since raised $160 million, according to MedCity News. Last October, Calibrate restructured its business, with a financial commitment from private equity firm Madryn Asset Management and other investors, after conducting two major rounds of layoffs in 2022 and April 2023, MedCity reported.
MacNaughton is bullish on the GLP-1 space, especially as the company pivots from business-to-consumer sales to B-to-B. The company has a strategic partnership with OptumRx, which is part of UnitedHealthGroup, to provide weight loss programs to employers, according to FierceHealthcare.
Calibrate’s program combines weight-loss medications with behavior change coaching. Earlier this month, Calibrate announced that third-party researchers had validated its Metabolic Reset program. Calibrate in January had reported data on 16,000 members, highlighting a 16.2% average weight loss at 12 months and 17.9% average weight loss at 24 months. Members who discontinued GLP-1s were able to “maintain clinically significant 10%+ weight loss at least six months post-taper," Calibrate said.
We caught up with MacNaughton to ask about his new gig.
What attracted you to this job? For me, the opportunity at Calibrate and the broader weight management space was compelling. I’ve been in health care for 20 years, and this is the only point where it has a promise of truly reducing the total cost of care. It’s exciting. It ultimately comes down to the life-changing results Calibrate has. Calibrate is a pioneer in this space. We believe everyone has the right to live healthy lives. Medications, which are certainly helpful but not the sole thing, need to be dovetailed with coaching for sustainability of the weight loss. As I became more familiar with the company during my own due diligence process, I discovered the impact on people is truly incredible. Weight and obesity management is one of the most pressing issues for U.S. health care. About 40% of the adult population is deemed obese. It’s a driving factor to health care outcomes and delivery and cost.
How does your program work? We will tailor a program with the employer. It’s not a cookie-cutter solution. We work with the employees to determine a plan to achieve the best return on investment. We ensure it’s the right employee at the right time in the right solution and the right medications. We work with both to make sure they’re getting access to the most appropriate medication and lifestyle intervention and coaching and tapering those employees off the medications and ensuring they can maintain huge weight-loss reductions. We have sessions individually with members and ... also have biweekly coaching conversations and guide them on their journey. We work on side effects and medication administration and tapering when appropriate. For our employer solution, our revenue driven by the success of the program itself.
What are your priorities as CEO? Certainly, we’ll invest and grow the enterprise side of the business and will continue to maintain our leadership position in the direct-to-consumer space as well. We continue to be seen as clinically guided and one of the stronger voices in this space.
