The telehealth platform Hims & Hers, known for its focus on millennial consumers, announced on Monday the appointment of Kåre Schultz, a veteran executive from Novo Nordisk, to its board of directors.
Schultz boasts over 25 years of experience at Novo Nordisk, a leading pharmaceutical company recognized for its diabetes and obesity treatments, where he held various positions including president and chief operating officer. He is currently the CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical.
In a press release, Schultz remarked, “Hims & Hers is on a trajectory to upend the healthcare industry. In my long career in the pharmaceutical field, I’ve never encountered a company that utilizes modern tools to effectively dismantle barriers in how individuals access essential health solutions. I’m excited to join this journey.”
The announcement was met with a positive response in the market, with Hims & Hers stock rising by 3% in Monday morning trading and increasing 125% since the start of the year.
This news comes shortly after Hims & Hers began providing a compounded version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular medications Ozempic and Wegovy, which are used for diabetes management and weight loss and produced by Novo Nordisk.
The company is offering a month’s supply of the compounded weight loss medication for $199, significantly lower than Ozempic’s list price of nearly $1,000 and Wegovy’s $1,349.
The scarcity of these high-demand drugs has prompted several telehealth platforms to leverage a provision in the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that allows for the sale of compounded medications when there is a shortage.
Compounding involves customizing a licensed drug by a state-licensed pharmacist or physician to meet the unique needs of an individual patient. While the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act typically prohibits the compounding of drugs that are merely copies of commercially available medications, the FDA does not classify drugs in shortage as commercially available.
On Monday, Schultz spoke to Bloomberg, emphasizing that the company has a “long future” in providing compounded semaglutide. When asked about the ability of pharmacies to produce compounded semaglutide once shortages are resolved, Schultz expressed confidence that there would still be cases necessitating tailored prescriptions for patients.