Novo Nordisk to sell Wegovy through telehealth firms to cash-paying US customers

By Patrick Wingrove and Sriparna Roy

(Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it was working with telehealth firms Hims & Hers, Ro and LifeMD to sell Wegovy, as it looks to stem sales of copies of its popular weight-loss drug and expand access to cash-paying patients.

Shares of Hims & Hers and LifeMD jumped more than 30% in early trading.

A U.S. judge last week rejected a bid by compounding pharmacies to keep selling copies of Wegovy while a legal challenge over drug shortages plays out.

Compounding pharmacies had been allowed to produce hundreds of thousands of doses of their versions of Novo's obesity and diabetes drugs while the FDA said the medicines were in short supply.

Larger so-called outsourcing facilities, which make compounded drugs in bulk to sell to telehealth companies and others, have been given until May 22 to cease making the drug, while smaller compounding pharmacies must stop immediately.

Hims & Hers and Ro started selling compounded versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Novo's diabetes drug Ozempic, last year. Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said the company will continue to offer personalized compounded versions of semaglutide on its platform.

In an effort to make Wegovy more accessible to cash-paying patients earlier this year, Novo Nordisk launched its NovoCare pharmacy program to supply the drug at a reduced cost of $499. Later in March, it extended the offer to all eligible cash-paying customers at their local pharmacy.

Patients can now access NovoCare directly through the three telehealth platforms.

"This should also be a very clear message that we have full supply of Wegovy... we want everyone to know that all doses are available," Dave Moore, executive vice president of U.S. operations for the Danish drugmaker, told Reuters.

Hims & Hers said it will begin offering all doses of Wegovy this week, starting at $599 per month to eligible cash-paying patients with a prescription. Ro and LifeMD said they would offer access to all doses of the drug for $499 per month.

Rival drugmaker Eli Lilly has made similar moves to make its obesity drug Zepbound more accessible to cash-paying patients, including working with Hims and Ro to offer the medicine through their platforms.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru and Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Bill Berkrot)