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According to the popular stock advisory service The Motley Fool, Qsymia’s sales have been minuscule since its launch in Sept. 2012. VIVUS’ revenue from the drug in Q2 2013 was $5.5 million compared to $4.1 million in Q1 2013. At the same time, the company has reported a net loss of $55.5 million, which is […]

Activist hedge fund Clinton Group discloses an expanded 5.3% stake (1.48M shares) stake in Nutrisystem. In conjunction, the fund sent a letter to CEO Dawn Zier, lauding the company on its CEO change (which Clinton had agitated for) and urging the company to increase the dividend (current yield of 4.9%) as cash flow improves. Clinton

HealthyWage (healthywage.com), the purveyor of financial incentive-based weight loss programs for individuals and businesses, revealed that Weight Watchers® members who are complementing, “turbo charging” and cost supplementing their diet program endeavors with HealthyWage’s varied weight loss wagering programs are profiting at a staggering level and pace, having collectively won more than $200,000 in the last

eDiets.com, now owned by As Seen On TV, Inc., Clearwater, FL, has agreed to sell its assets related to its fresh and frozen meal delivery business for approximately $1.1 million, to Chef’s Diet National Co., LLC, a private company based in new York. The transaction is expected to close by Sept. 30.  Sounds like a

The Affordable Care Act is coming soon and a tidal wave of 40 million new people will enter the healthcare system. Many of them will be overweight. This could represent a shot in the arm that the weight loss market needs. However, not all parts of a given program will be covered by insurance. Obesity

Everyone in the market has been talking about the explosive growth of the free mobile app, MyFitnessPal, blaming it for their poor results. Marketdata contacted the head PR person at MyFitnessPal to get some clarification of this huge number being quoted. As we thought, the 40 million is NOT the current number of active users.

This drug works by targeting the body, not the mind, and unlike rivals tthat suppress appetite, Zafgen’s drug, beloranib, is designed to make the body produce less fat and burn off the excess as fuel. “This is in contrast with other agents that really only affect hunger, and don’t actually restore balance of the fat,”

Gee what a surprise! Nestle, in its latest quarterly report, says that Jenny Craig has not been doing well for two years, and has a turnaround plan for it. No details yet, although we at Marketdata can’t wait to hear what it could possibly be. We’ve been saying that, although Nestle does not release financials

OK, all the 2nd quarter results are in for the publicly owned diet companies, and it’s bad across the board. Q2 was terrible. Plus, lots of top management changes. Weight Watchers: CEO resigns. Trouble over group leaders low pay. Revenues down 3.9% in Q2 and down 3.5% for first half of 2013. WW.com growth slows

Medifast said its net income more than doubled and sales grew 4%. Revenue from its Take Shape for Life MLM coaching unit rose 10%, which made up for lower sales from the company’s web site and phone orders and from company owned stores and wholesale physicians. The company has 86 corporate-owned locations and said Tuesday