Lilly partners with Hims & Hers on obesity drug sales

Eli Lilly has signed an agreement with Hims & Hers that will see its weight-loss therapies Zepbound and Foundayo sold directly on the telehealth company's platform.

While Zepbound (tirzepatide) and Foundayo (orforglipron) were available to Hims & Hers customers before, they will now be able to fulfil prescriptions for them without having to leave the telehealth platform. Previously, they were diverted to Lilly's own LillyDirect direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales channel.

The deal levels the playing field between Lilly and Novo, which forged a similar alliance with Hims & Hers earlier this year for its Wegovy (semaglutide) brand of injectable and oral weight-loss therapies. Previously, Novo had filed legal actions against the telehealth company for selling compounded versions of its medicines after an earlier alliance fell apart acrimoniously.

The DTC channel is very important in the US market for weight-loss therapies, as limited insurance coverage means these medicines are still mainly obtained on a self-pay basis, and ease of purchase is a key factor driving sales.

Adults with obesity have shown strong and growing interest in getting care, including prescription medicines, through telehealth providers, said Lilly in a statement. Meanwhile, Hims & Hers has agreed not to provide compounded versions of the two Lilly products.

At the moment, Lilly is dominating the injectable category with Zepbound, with global sales of the product growing 49% to $5.35 billion in the third quarter, while Novo's injectable Wegovy products fell 2% to approximately $3 billion.

It's the reverse scenario in the oral category, where the Wegovy pill made $813 million to Foundayo's $184 million, and Lilly will be hoping that the new deal will help build sales momentum for its product.

"At Lilly, we are always looking for new ways to help more people get the medicines they need, and that means meeting patients where they already are," said Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and head of the group's global customer capabilities unit.

"Millions of people turn to Hims & Hers for their care, and through this agreement, those patients now have a simple, more direct way to get FDA-approved Lilly medicine at an affordable price if prescribed," he added.

Self-pay pricing starts at $149 per month for Foundayo and $299 per month for Zepbound through the Hims & Hers platform, the same as through LillyDirect, according to the company.