Linda Yaccarino's GLP-1 telehealth unicorn raises $200M on adherence claim that bucks industry norm

Linda Yaccarino’s GLP-1 telehealth unicorn raises $200M on adherence claim that bucks industry norm

EMed secures Series A at a $2B valuation. But will its adherence rate hold up at scale?

gettyimages-Linda Yaccarino.jpg — Linda Yaccarino, former Twitter CEO

(Update: eMed, which offered this response March 31, 2026, said its adherence rate has been independently validated. A recent study of more than 8,000 eMed members in the UK, independently analyzed by University College London, found eMed’s adherence rates exceed 91% over six months. The study was authored by professor John Deanfield, a principal investigator on the landmark SELECT trial, and is currently under peer review at Nature Medicine, with publication expected in the coming weeks.)

EMed, a GLP-1 telehealth startup led by former Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, on Thursday announced $200 million in new funding along with its latest claim that its users’ GLP-1 adherence rate exceeds 90%.

This rate would be remarkable by industry standards when applied at scale.

“The high adherence rates claimed by eMed lack the peer-reviewed, clinical validation warranted for numbers that deviate so drastically from established norms in the GLP-1 space,” said Ben Zercher, senior biotech and pharma analyst at PitchBook.

EMed, which partners with employers and government payers to make GLP-1s more affordable to employees, raised the Series A round at a $2 billion valuation. Led by AON Consulting, backers in the latest round included former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, Valor Equity Partners CEO Antonio Gracias, and 8VC managing partner Joe Lonsdale.

The telehealth company is riding the wave of a booming GLP-1 weight-loss craze: UBS estimated in 2024 that 40 million people would be on GLP-1s by 2029. With total global sales exceeding $120 billion, VCs have been eager to invest in the category.

EMed bets that it can bridge the current gap between pricing and access in GLP-1s, which are covered by only about 20% of employer-sponsored health insurance plans. Branded injections including Wegovy and Ozempic can range from $150 to $450 per month, depending on the dose and format. However, pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly have been making moves to reduce the costs of these weight-loss drugs to stay competitive—raising the question of how durable the current pricing and access gap for GLP-1s is.

According to a company statement in August, eMed’s partnership with Aon’s subsidized GLP-1 weight management benefit program saw “an average of 22.4 pounds lost with a retention rate of 95%" across 1,200 registered users. In Thursday’s announcement, the company said it was seeing “over 90%" user adherence.

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Retention rates of GLP-1s have been improving over the past few years. Still, a 90% retention rate would be remarkable if eMed continued to see that rate as it expanded to more users, Zercher noted.

A recent study published in the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy followed 33,607 insured patients without diabetes between 2021 and 2024, and found that rates of GLP-1 persistence increased from 33% in 2021 to 60.9% in the first half of 2024.

“Without that validation, investors are left to speculate on an unproven business model in a highly dynamic space as other players push DTC models and payers look to bring GLP-1 utilization management capabilities in-house,” Zercher added.