Novo Nordisk opens Wegovy to telehealth in push for new patients

Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said it will offer its weight loss drug Wegovy through telehealth providers Hims & Hers Health, Ro and LifeMD to expand access to the blockbuster treatment now that it is no longer in short supply in 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 due to skyrocketing demand. 

“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, executive vice president of U.S. operations at Novo Nordisk, told 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 said. 

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

Patients will be able to access Novo Nordisk’s new direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, NovoCare, directly through the telehealth providers. 

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

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

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

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

Ro opted for the lower price, announcing Tuesday it will offer access to all doses of Wegovy for $499 per month. The company provides 24/7 messaging, one-on-one coaching, educational content and more through its monthly membership called the Body Program, which does not include the cost of medication.

“Adding Novo Nordisk’s FDA-approved treatments at the best available cash price will help more patients nationwide get the obesity care they need to achieve 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 loss medication Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro, as well as the generic injection liraglutide, through its platform. But unlike the company’s collaboration with Novo Nordisk, Lilly released a statement clarifying that it has “no affiliation” with Hims & Hers.

Hims & Hers started prescribing compounded semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic and Wegovy, in May of 2024. The company has largely had to stop offering the compounded medications en masse, but some consumers may still be able to access personalized doses if it’s clinically applicable, Dudum said. 

“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 said. “The regulation is very clear.” 

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

But drugmakers and some health experts have pushed back against the practice, largely because the FDA does not 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 this is that we stay true to what the rules are,” Moore said. “That’s the best way for us to serve patients.”

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