Hims & Hers, a telehealth platform focused on millennials, announced the addition of Kåre Schultz, a veteran executive from Novo Nordisk, to its board of directors. Schultz has over 25 years of experience at the Danish pharmaceutical company, which specializes in diabetes and obesity medications, and currently serves as the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
In a statement, Schultz expressed his excitement about joining Hims & Hers, highlighting the company’s ability to leverage modern tools to transform healthcare access. He stated, “Hims & Hers is on a trajectory to upend the healthcare industry,” noting that this is the first company he has seen focused on breaking down barriers for patients seeking essential health solutions.
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers saw a 3% increase in stock price during Monday morning trading, and its shares have surged 125% since the start of the year.
This development comes shortly after Hims & Hers began offering a compounded version of semaglutide, a key ingredient in the popular diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, produced by Novo Nordisk. The company is providing a month’s supply of this weight loss medication for $199, significantly cheaper than the nearly $1,000 price of Ozempic and $1,349 for Wegovy.
The limited availability of these high-demand drugs has prompted several telehealth platforms to capitalize on a provision of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which permits the sale of compounded medications that are in shortage. Compounding involves customizing an approved drug by a state-licensed pharmacist or physician for an individual patient’s needs.
While the act generally prohibits the compounding of drugs that mimic commercially available medications, the FDA does not consider drugs in shortage to be commercially available. Schultz reassured Bloomberg that Hims & Hers envisions a “long future” in the compounded semaglutide market, indicating confidence that individual patient needs will sustain the demand for compounded prescriptions even after shortages resolve.