CEO says Wegovy’s 85% off deal and Hims’ Ozempic are latest steps on a journey to make medicine less ‘patriarchal’
Traditional medical practices are getting a boost from newcomers seeking to fill gaps in what health industry executives described Monday as a lagging health care system .
That includes Hims & Hers, a direct-to-consumer healthcare company that announced Monday it will release a Synthetic versions of the weight loss pills Wegovy and Ozempic starting at $199 per month, 85% less than branded versions due Novo Nordisk. Both are in a class of drugs called GLP-1 that were approved to treat diabetes but have become extremely dangerous. Popular for weight loss.
Dr. Patrick Carroll, chief medical officer of Hims & Hers, said the move comes as the company focuses on personalization and customer choice in an effort to improve a “patriarchal” health system. traditional. LuckBrainstorm Health’s conference.
In the past, Dr. Carroll said, doctors have prescribed many aspects of a person’s health, something that is inconsistent with the freedom of choice that patients expect from their health care. Nowadays.
“You’re not going to get through this $4.5 trillion health care mess with traditional care models,” he said.
Hims & Hers is adapting to the modern patient by publishing content about symptoms that educates people and helps bring them onto the company’s platform. In this way, the company seeks to reach the users Google or social media as a first resource for medical issues.
“It’s very different than it was 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, but it’s the model of the future,” Carroll said. “People are looking for answers online.”
Although Carroll said the $199 price tag for the company’s new product is still high for some customers, he emphasized that Hims & Hers’ new GLP-1 weight loss pill uses the same active ingredient as branded drugs thanks in part to their partnerships. with a joint production company that he did not name.
Hims & Hers’ effort to bring weight loss pills to market reflects growing demand for branded versions from Novo Nordisk and other manufacturers such as Eli Lilly are trying to expand production scale.
Even though Wegovy and Ozempic are protected by patents, US regulators still allow pharmacies to make compound version about drugs in short supply, but the Food and Drug Administration does not test the safety of locally produced versions of the drug. One January declareThe agency has warned people using synthetic forms of weight loss pills that FDA-approved versions are available.
However, synthetic versions of weight loss pills still attract consumer attention when branded versions of the drug are offered. is limited.
