Hims & Hers, a telehealth platform aimed at millennials, announced on Monday the addition of Kåre Schultz, a former executive at Novo Nordisk, to its board of directors.
Schultz has over 25 years of experience at the Danish pharmaceutical company, known for its diabetes and obesity treatments, where he held positions including president and chief operating officer. Currently, he serves as the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
“Hims & Hers is on a trajectory to upend the healthcare industry,” Schultz stated in a press release. “In my long career in the pharmaceutical industry, this is the first company I have seen that is leveraging today’s modern tools to truly break down barriers and change the status quo of how people access the health solutions they need to live their fullest lives. I’m thrilled to be a part of this journey.”
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers stock increased by 3% during morning trading and has risen 125% since the start of the year.
This development comes just months after Hims & Hers began offering a compounded form of semaglutide, the active ingredient in well-known diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, which are manufactured by Novo Nordisk. Hims & Hers is offering a month’s supply of the weight loss medication for $199, significantly lower than Ozempic’s nearly $1,000 list price and Wegovy’s $1,349 price.
The high demand for these costly brand-name drugs has prompted several telehealth companies to utilize a provision in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that permits the sale of compounded medications in shortage. Compounding involves customizing an approved drug by a licensed pharmacist or physician to meet the specific needs of individual patients.
Generally, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits the compounding of drugs that are merely copies of commercially available medications. However, medications deemed to be in shortage are not categorized as commercially available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Schultz expressed confidence in the company’s future selling compounded semaglutide. He noted that even after shortages are resolved, there would still be situations where patients require tailored prescriptions.