The telehealth platform Hims & Hers announced 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, where he held various positions, including president and chief operating officer, and is currently the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
In a press release, Schultz expressed his excitement about joining Hims & Hers, highlighting the company’s innovative approach to transforming healthcare access. He noted that this is the first company he has encountered that effectively utilizes modern tools to dismantle barriers in healthcare, enabling individuals to obtain necessary health solutions.
Following the announcement, Hims & Hers stock saw a 3% increase in Monday morning trading and has gained 125% since the start of the year.
This news comes after Hims & Hers launched a compounded version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular diabetes and weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, both produced by Novo Nordisk. The company offers a month’s supply of this weight loss medication for $199, significantly lower than Ozempic’s nearly $1,000 list price and Wegovy’s $1,349 cost.
The limited availability of these pricey brand-name drugs has allowed several telehealth platforms to exploit a section of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that permits the sale of compounded medications in shortage. Compounding involves customizing an approved medication by a licensed pharmacist or physician to meet individual patient needs.
Although the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act generally prohibits the compounding of drugs that are copies of commercially available medications, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not classify medications currently in short supply as commercially available. In a conversation with Bloomberg, Schultz commented that Hims & Hers sees a “long future” in selling compounded semaglutide, expressing confidence that individualized prescriptions will continue to be necessary even after shortages are resolved.