For decades we’ve heard that diabetes prevention is simple—lose weight, eat less, and exercise more. But something is wrong with this conventional wisdom.
Nearly 115 million people live with either diabetes or prediabetes in the United States, and that number is growing. It is time to reverse this trend.
Virta was founded in 2014 with the goal of reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025. Our mission is inspired by our founding story, and continues to guide us today.
Virta co-founder and CEO Sami Inkinen wins his age group at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and finds out he has pre-diabetes that same year.
Unsatisfied with the conventional wisdom of “exercise more and eat less,” Sami digs into the science of type 2 diabetes, leading him to Drs. Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek, renowned experts on the science of carbohydrate restriction and metabolic health.
With consultation from Steve and Jeff on using nutritional ketosis for athletic performance, Sami and his wife Meredith complete a record-breaking row from San Francisco to Hawaii to bring awareness to nutrition’s impact on our health.
Sami, Steve, and Jeff join forces, combining Steve and Jeff’s scientific knowledge with Sami’s technology expertise and Virta Health is born. Our mission—to reverse type 2 diabetes in 100M people by 2025.
Virta’s clinical trial is kicked-off in West Lafayette, Indiana, establishing the scientific foundation for type 2 diabetes reversal and Virta’s unwavering commitment to being evidence-based.
Virta later launches publicly to coincide with the release of our first peer-reviewed manuscript, which demonstrated diabetes reversal in nearly half of our population in as little as 10-weeks. 87% of patients on insulin either reduced usage or eliminated it altogether.
Virta establishes an advisory board of eminent physicians, scientists, and policy makers. Dr. Don Berwick, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, joins Virta’s Board of Directors.
Meanwhile, we refine our continuous remote care model, upending traditional diabetes treatment by providing near real-time and technology-enabled access to physicians, nurse practitioners, and health coaches. The Virta Treatment is expanded to every state in the nation.
Virta’s 1-year peer-reviewed results show diabetes reversal in 60% of completing patients, with 94% of participants reducing or eliminating insulin usage.
We release another peer-reviewed paper on the cardiovascular benefits of the Virta Treatment, which showed significant improvement in 22 of 26 markers of cardiovascular disease risk in patients with T2D.
On the heels of a $45M Series B funding, doubling our team size, and 3x growth in customers, Virta announces that we’ll put 100% of our fees at risk for our enterprise partners, accelerating adoption of the Virta Treatment and bringing diabetes reversal to as many people as possible.
So much of our story is still untold, and we’re looking forward to the journey on our way to reversing type 2 diabetes in 100 million people by 2025.
Founder and former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health. Professor of Medicine Emeritus at University of California, Davis. Internationally recognized expert on obesity, carbohydrate-restricted and ketogenic diets, diet and performance, and essential fatty acid metabolism.
Former Chief Medical Officer of Virta Health (2020-2022). Former Chief Scientific & Medical Officer for the American Diabetes Association, the nation’s largest voluntary health organization leading the fight to Stop Diabetes®, from 2012-2017.
Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Independence Health Group (Independence), parent of Independence Blue Cross, one of the nation’s leading health insurers.
Former Global Chief Medical Officer, Novo Nordisk, and Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Joslin Diabetes Center with specific responsibility for the Joslin Clinic.
CEO Emeritus, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. Managing Partner and co-founder of Paxton Advisors.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Director, Division of CME, Beth Israel Medical Center, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA. Former SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Joslin Diabetes Center.
Former President and Chief Executive Officer, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the state’s largest health insurer with more than 600,000 members. Former President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia.
Former President and CEO of Consortium Health Plans. Former SVP of the Health Insurance Association of America. Former Regional President of Aetna Health Plans.
President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), an organization that Dr. Berwick co-founded and led as President and CEO for 18 years. He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care quality and improvement. In July, 2010, President Obama appointed Dr. Berwick to the position of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which he held until December, 2011.
Partner at Venrock and focuses on healthcare IT and services investments. He is a Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Senior Fellow and Advisory Board Member at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at USC, and Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution Engleberg Center for Health Reform.
CEO of Invoice2go. Former CEO-in-residence at Accel Partners and CEO of eHarmony from 2006-2010. Board member at VivaReal, View the Space, and prior board member on the combined boards of Zillow and Trulia.
Most recently, Yvonne has been a Co-Founder and Managing Director of investment firm Cove Hill Partners. Before that, she was the COO and CFO of PillPack, the e-commerce pharmacy startup, where she helped lead the sale and integration of PillPack to Amazon.
