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 giant, where he held various positions including president and chief operating officer. He currently serves as the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
In a press release, Schultz expressed his enthusiasm for joining 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. I’m thrilled to be a part of this journey.”
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers saw its stock rise by 3% during Monday morning trading, bringing its total increase to 125% since the start of the year.
This news comes in the wake of Hims & Hers offering a compounded formulation of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular diabetes and weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, both manufactured by Novo Nordisk. Hims & Hers provides a month’s supply of this weight loss medication for $199, significantly lower than Ozempic’s approximate $1,000 price and Wegovy’s $1,349 cost.
The scarcity of these highly sought-after brand-name drugs has prompted several telehealth platforms to utilize a provision in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that permits the sale of compounded versions of medications in shortage. Compounding involves customizing an approved medication by a licensed pharmacist or physician to cater to individual patient needs.
Although the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act generally restricts the compounding of drugs that simply replicate commercially available medications, drugs deemed in shortage are not classified as commercially available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Schultz also mentioned to Bloomberg that Hims & Hers has a “long future” in providing compounded semaglutide and reassured that there will still be instances where patients require individualized prescriptions even after shortages are resolved.