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US telemedicine platform Hims & Hers is exploring offering replica obesity medicines in the UK and Europe, hoping to offer patients a cheaper and more personalised way to take weight loss drugs.
Andrew Dudum, Hims chief executive, said there was a “huge opportunity” in obesity as he announced the acquisition of European rival Zava, which already sells some weight-loss treatments.
London-based Zava has more than 1.3mn patients a year split between the UK, Ireland, Germany and France. The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, will be in cash and Hims plans to work with Zava to expand to other European countries and beyond.
“We are obviously excited by treating as many patients as we can and giving them broad access to this care category,” Dudum told the Financial Times. “We believe in this ability to deliver real precision medicine to patients at scale for affordable prices.”
Sales of replica weight-loss drugs, which contain the active ingredients of patented drugs and are known as compounded medications, soared in the US after pharmacies were allowed to make them during a shortage of branded drugs developed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
An association for the US compounding industry estimated that about 2mn patients were taking these drugs earlier this year, which may have contributed to lower than expected growth for Novo Nordisk in particular.
But even now the shortages are over and compounding on a mass scale is banned, telemedicine platforms such as Hims are continuing to sell some personalised replicas, for example by offering different doses or a combination of products designed to reduce side effects.
Dudum said he would be “surprised” if there were not “expansive options in obesity that include that type of personalisation, or similar types”, adding that this should be possible under current regulations in the UK and Europe.
Some pharmacies are allowed to make drugs adapted for particular patients’ needs in the UK, where they are known as “specials”. Hims has already offered these personalised drugs for dermatology and sexual health patients.
Zava has reported “big demand” for weight management services, which so far sell branded obesity drugs, especially for patients who cannot get such treatments paid for by the UK’s National Health Service, according to chief executive David Meinertz.
Shares in Hims have soared 177 per cent in the past year as the company has benefited from the booming US obesity treatment market. As the market for the replica medications shrinks, the telehealth provider has signed a deal with Novo Nordisk to offer its obesity drug Wegovy and has said it expects more collaborations.
Dudum said he saw the company as like “Switzerland”: neutral and able to offer prescriptions for branded medication and continue compounding for a “meaningfully smaller group of patients” in the US.
