Hims & Hers, a telehealth platform targeting millennials, announced the addition of Kåre Schultz, a former executive at Novo Nordisk, to its board of directors on Monday.
Schultz brings over 25 years of experience from Novo Nordisk, a company known for its diabetes and obesity drugs, where he held various roles including president and chief operating officer. He is currently the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
In a press release, Schultz expressed enthusiasm about Hims & Hers, stating, “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.”
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers shares rose by 3%, contributing to a significant 125% increase since the start of the year.
This announcement comes on the heels of Hims & Hers launching a compounded version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular diabetes and weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, both manufactured by Novo Nordisk. Hims & Hers is offering a month’s supply of this weight loss medication for $199, significantly lower than Ozempic’s nearly $1,000 price and Wegovy’s $1,349 tag.
The high demand and limited availability of these brand-name drugs have led several telehealth providers to exploit a section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that permits the sale of compounded versions of drugs in shortage. Compounding allows licensed pharmacists or physicians to customize drugs to meet individual patient needs.
While the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act typically restricts the compounding of drugs that replicate commercially available medications, the FDA does not consider drugs in shortage to be commercially available.
Schultz indicated to Bloomberg that Hims & Hers anticipates a “long future” in supplying compounded semaglutide. When questioned about the future availability of compounded semaglutide post-shortages, he expressed confidence that there will still be circumstances necessitating individualized prescriptions for patients.