Novo Nordisk opens Wegovy to telehealth in push for brand new patients

Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said it should offer its weight reduction drug Wegovy through telehealth providers Hims & Hers Health, Ro and LifeMD to expand access to the blockbuster treatment now that it is not any longer in brief supply within the U.S. 

Shares of Hims & Hers soared 18% on Tuesday, while Novo Nordisk’s stock rose 3%.

The Danish drugmaker is racing to capture more patients now that many compounding pharmacies are legally restricted from making cheaper, unapproved versions of Wegovy, with rare exceptions. Patients flocked to those compounded versions while Wegovy was in shortage because of skyrocketing demand. 

“We felt it was really necessary to work hard to ascertain a collaboration with telehealth firms in order that there could possibly be access to Wegovy because the compounding is winding down,” Dave Moore, executive vice chairman of U.S. operations at Novo Nordisk, told CNBC. 

“We’re really pleased concerning the level of interest to access branded Wegovy and to begin to type of catch people as they arrive off of compounded medicine,” he said. 

Moore added that the brand new partnerships make the experience “seamless” for patients because it allows them to access Wegovy straight from their telehealth providers, which “makes it very easy” for them to get the drug shipped on to their homes. 

Patients will have the option to access Novo Nordisk’s latest direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, NovoCare, directly through the telehealth providers. 

That pharmacy offers Wegovy for $499 in money per thirty days – roughly half its usual monthly list price  – for patients without insurance coverage for the weekly injection. 

Each telehealth company’s price could also be higher because they likely include additional services, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told CNBC. 

Hims & Hers said it should begin offering all dose sizes of Wegovy together with access to 24/7 care, dietary guidance and ongoing clinical support this week, starting at $599 per thirty days to eligible cash-paying patients with a prescription. 

The medication will cost Hims & Hers customers more because it comes with added access to care, the corporate’s CEO, Andrew Dudum, told CNBC in an interview. He said he thinks the corporate’s partnership with Novo Nordisk will function a case study for the way patients get access to and get prices for “great medicine” and other types of treatment. 

Ro opted for the cheaper price, announcing Tuesday it should offer access to all doses of Wegovy for $499 per thirty days. The corporate provides 24/7 messaging, one-on-one coaching, educational content and more through its monthly membership called the Body Program, which doesn’t include the associated fee of medication.

“Adding Novo Nordisk’s FDA-approved treatments at one of the best available money price will help more patients nationwide get the obesity care they need to realize their goals, particularly those without insurance coverage,” Ro CEO Zach Reitano said in a release.

Earlier this month, Hims & Hers announced that patients could access Eli Lilly’s weight reduction medication Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro, in addition to the generic injection liraglutide, through its platform. But unlike the corporate’s collaboration with Novo Nordisk, Lilly released a press release clarifying that it has “no affiliation” with Hims & Hers.

Hims & Hers began prescribing compounded semaglutide, the lively ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic and Wegovy, in May of 2024. The corporate has largely needed to stop offering the compounded medications en masse, but some consumers should still have the option to access personalized doses if it’s clinically applicable, Dudum said. 

“That was one in every of the primary things we shared with Novo is that we’ll at all times fight on behalf of what consumers we consider have the best to get,” Dudum said. “The regulation may be very clear.” 

During Food and Drug Administration-declared shortages, pharmacists can legally make compounded versions of brand-name medications. They will also be produced on a case-by-case basis when it’s medically mandatory for a patient, comparable to when they can not swallow a pill or are allergic to a particular ingredient in a branded drug. 

But drugmakers and a few health experts have pushed back against the practice, largely since the FDA doesn’t approve compounded drugs. 

Larger, federally regulated compounding pharmacies that make copies of semaglutide in bulk without prescriptions face a legal deadline of May 22 to stop marketing and selling those versions. Smaller, state-licensed compounding pharmacies that manufacture semaglutide copycats for individual prescriptions had a deadline of April 22.  

“The spirit of that is that we stay true to what the principles are,” Moore said. “That is the easiest way for us to serve patients.”

— CNBC’s Brandon Gomez and Angelica Peebles contributed to this report.