The telehealth platform Hims & Hers, which primarily targets millennials, announced on Monday the addition of Kåre Schultz, a former top executive of Novo Nordisk, to its board of directors.
Kåre Schultz has over 25 years of experience with Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company renowned for its diabetes and obesity medications. Previously he served in various roles, including president and chief operating officer. Schultz is currently the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
“Hims & Hers is on a trajectory to upend the healthcare industry,” Schultz said in a press release. “In my lengthy career in the pharmaceutical industry, this is the first company I have seen that utilizes modern tools to break barriers and change the status quo of healthcare accessibility. I’m thrilled to be part of this journey.”
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers saw a 3% rise in stock during Monday morning trading. The company’s shares have surged 125% since the beginning of this year.
This development comes shortly after Hims & Hers began offering a compounded version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s popular diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. A month’s supply from Hims & Hers is priced at $199, significantly less than Ozempic’s nearly $1,000 and Wegovy’s $1,349 list prices.
Due to the limited supply of these expensive brand-name drugs, several telehealth platforms are capitalizing on a specific provision of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. This provision allows for the sale of compounded versions of medications that are in shortage. Compounding involves the customization of an approved drug by a state-licensed pharmacist or physician to meet the specific needs of an individual patient.
Typically, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits compounding drugs that are mere copies of commercially available medications. But drugs experiencing shortages are not considered commercially available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Schultz told Bloomberg that the company anticipates a “long future” in selling compounded semaglutide. When asked if pharmacies will still be able to make compounded semaglutide once the shortages end, Schultz expressed confidence, noting that there would still be scenarios where patients need personalized prescriptions.