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Hims & Hers offers compounded Wegovy for $99 a month to select professions
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
By Amina Niasse
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. telehealth company Hims & Hers Health on Wednesday said it will sell compounded versions of Novo Nordisk’s popular weight-loss drug Wegovy to patients in certain professions for $99 a month.
The company said the pricing would be available to eligible U.S. military members, teachers, nurses and first responders, including police and firefighters, as well as veterans. For patients on a 12-month plan, Hims offers a semaglutide injection for $199 a month, according to its website.
The news comes after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders said multiple generic drugmakers confirmed they could sell custom-made versions of Novo’s drug for less than $100 a month using the semaglutide.
Soaring demand for weight-loss drugs in the GLP-1 class, which have been shown to help patients lose as much as 20% of their weight on average, has led to shortages of the drugs that have allowed compounders to produce them under U.S. regulations.
Around 70% of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, According to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ozempic and Wegovy carry high list prices of $935.77 and $1,349.02 respectively for a month’s supply, according to the company’s website. Most U.S. patients are covered by health insurance and would likely pay less for the drugs.
Novo and rival Eli Lilly, which makes the weight-loss drug Zepbound, have filed a flurry of lawsuits against medical spas, wellness clinics and compounding pharmacies for allegedly selling products claiming to contain the active ingredients in their drugs.
Compounded GLP-1 injections are fulfilled and shipped from Hims & Hers’ affiliated pharmacies and are FDA-regulated, the company said.
“The current state of access to weight loss drugs isn’t serving everyone who needs them,” said Andrew Dudum, CEO and co-founder of Hims & Hers. “Safe and affordable healthcare solutions for every individual should be the status quo.”
(Reporting by Amina Niasse in New York; Editing by Patrick Wingrove and Aurora Ellis)
Wegovy is a prescription medication that contains semaglutide, used for weight management in adults with obesity or overweight conditions.
Compounded medications are customized drugs prepared by pharmacists to meet specific patient needs, often when standard medications are unavailable.
GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) drugs are a class of medications that help regulate blood sugar levels and promote weight loss.
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