Novo Nordisk opens weight reduction drug Wegovy to telehealth; Hims & Hers stocks rocket 40%

Novo Nordisk on Tuesday stated it’s going to be offering its weight reduction drug Wegovy thru telehealth suppliers Hims & Hers Health, Ro and Life MD to make bigger get right of entry to to the blockbuster remedy now that it’s not briefly provide within the U.S. 

Shares of Hims & Hers soared 40% in premarket buying and selling Tuesday, whilst Novo Nordisk’s inventory rose 3%.

The Danish drugmaker is racing to seize extra sufferers now that many compounding pharmacies are legally limited from making less expensive, unapproved variations of Wegovy, with uncommon exceptions. Patients flocked to these compounded variations whilst Wegovy was once in scarcity because of skyrocketing call for. 

“We felt it was really important to work hard to establish a collaboration with telehealth companies so that there could be access to Wegovy as the compounding is winding down,” Dave Moore, govt vp of U.S. operations at Novo Nordisk, advised CNBC. 

“We’re really pleased about the level of interest to access branded Wegovy and to start to sort of catch people as they come off of compounded medicine,” he stated. 

Moore added that the brand new partnerships make the enjoy “seamless” for sufferers because it permits them to get right of entry to Wegovy directly from their telehealth suppliers, which “makes it very easy” for them to get the drug shipped at once to their properties. 

Patients will be capable of get right of entry to Novo Nordisk’s new direct-to-consumer on-line pharmacy, NovoCare, at once throughout the telehealth suppliers. 

That pharmacy gives Wegovy for $499 in coins per thirty days – kind of part its same old per thirty days checklist worth  – for sufferers with out insurance plans for the weekly injection. 

Each telehealth corporate’s worth could also be upper as a result of they most likely come with further products and services, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson advised CNBC. 

Hims & Hers stated it’s going to start providing all dose sizes of Wegovy along side get right of entry to to 24/7 care, dietary steering and ongoing scientific toughen this week, beginning at $599 per thirty days to eligible cash-paying sufferers with a prescription. 

The medicine will value Hims & Hers shoppers extra because it comes with added get right of entry to to care, the corporate’s CEO Andrew Dudum advised CNBC in an interview. He stated he thinks the corporate’s partnership with Novo Nordisk will function a case learn about for the way sufferers get get right of entry to to and get costs for “great medicine” and different sorts of remedy. 

Earlier this month, Hims & Hers introduced that sufferers may get right of entry to Eli Lilly‘s weight reduction medicine Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro, in addition to the generic injection liraglutide, thru its platform. But not like the corporate’s collaboration with Novo Nordisk, Lilly launched a observation clarifying that it has “no affiliation” with Hims & Hers.

Hims & Hers began prescribing compounded semaglutide, the lively component in Novo Nordisk‘s Ozempic and Wegovy, in May of 2024. The corporate has in large part needed to forestall providing the compounded medicines en masse, however some customers would possibly nonetheless be capable of get right of entry to customized doses if it is clinically acceptable, Dudum stated. 

“That was one of the first things we shared with Novo is that we will always fight on behalf of what consumers we believe have the right to get,” Dudum stated. “The regulation is very clear.” 

During FDA-declared shortages, pharmacists can legally make compounded variations of brand-name medicines. They can be produced on a case-by-case foundation when it is medically vital for a affected person, equivalent to when they are able to’t swallow a tablet or are allergic to a particular component in a branded drug. 

But drugmakers and a few well being professionals have driven again in opposition to the follow, in large part since the FDA does now not approve compounded medication. 

Larger, federally regulated compounding pharmacies that make copies of semaglutide in bulk with out prescriptions face a prison closing date of May 22 to prevent advertising and promoting the ones variations. Smaller, state-licensed compounding pharmacies that manufacture semaglutide copycats for particular person prescriptions had a closing date of April 22.  

“The spirit of this is that we stay true to what the rules are,” Moore stated. “That’s the best way for us to serve patients.”

–CNBC’s Brandon Gomez and Angelica Peebles contributed to this document