Novo Nordisk unleashes Wegovy telehealth blitz

Novo Nordisk has sought strength in numbers in the battle for telehealth obesity drug sales in the US, enlisting the aid of Hims & Hers Health, LifeMD, and Ro to drive direct-to-consumer sales of its Wegovy weight-loss drug.

The announcement, which led to a rocketing in the share prices of publicly listed Hims & Hers and LifeMD, comes as third-party companies are being restricted from selling compounded versions of Wegovy (semaglutide), as the drug is no longer on the FDA shortage list.

A huge market for compounded versions of Wegovy and rival therapy Zepbound (tirzepatide) from Eli Lilly sprang up while the two drugs were having supply constraints, with both companies trying to block the trade in the courts on the grounds that the drugs were too complex to be made safely.

The legal right to compound tirzepatide came to an end on 18th February for state-licensed pharmacy or physician compounders, while outsourcing facilities were ordered to stop by 19th March. For semaglutide, the corresponding dates are 22nd April and 22nd May, respectively.

Now, Novo Nordisk has clearly decided that it is better to work with some of these compounders and harness their long reach in US DTC channels.

The alliances mark an escalation of the face-off in the US market for self-pay drugs between Novo Nordisk and Lilly, which was the first to offer a DTC channel to people seeking weight-loss treatments who are willing and able to pay for them out of pocket, but who don't have health insurance coverage.

Lilly's LillyDirect service was unveiled for Zepbound in 2024, now extended to include a range of other drugs, and Novo Nordisk followed suit earlier this year with the launch of its NovoCare Pharmacy platform.

Users of the three telehealth companies will now be able to access NovoCare directly through their existing provider. However, pricing through the telehealth players will vary depending on the services bundled with the weight-loss drug.

Hims & Hers is offering Wegovy at $599 per month, with added access to 24/7 care, nutritional guidance, and ongoing clinical support, while Ro is offering it at $499 per month – the same as NovoCare Pharmacy – with additional services like one-on-one coaching available via a separate programme.

LifeMD will also offer it for $499, saying that the expanded distribution "reflects the growing demand among cash-pay patients for convenient access to clinically backed FDA-approved obesity treatment options."

Novo Nordisk's head of US operations and global product development, Dave Moore, said that it is also working with Hims & Hers on a "roadmap" to extend their collaboration to other medicines, "with the goal of improving long-term outcomes for more people living with chronic disease, and doing that more affordably."

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