Telehealth companies selling low-cost, compounded versions of popular weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, are drawing increased interest from employers, Bloomberg reported Oct. 29.
Employers are seeing rising employee demand for weight-loss drug coverage. However, the high costs of GLP1s has proven challenging. About 14% of employers covering the drugs are considering dropping coverage due to expense, while 70% of businesses that don't cover the drugs cited price as the main obstacle, according to a survey from the consulting firm Willis Towers Watson.
At least six health systems, including Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health, have limited or ended weight-loss drug coverage this year.
However, telehealth companies such as Noom, Hims and Sesame have reported heightened interest from employers about compounded versions of the weight-loss drugs. Noom has offered branded GLP-1s since May 2023, but significant employer interest only emerged once it introduced a copycat version of Wegovy for $149 per month.
"The announcement seemed to bring folks out of the woodwork," Noom CEO Geoff Cook told Bloomberg. "They were clearly already investigating if this could be a solution for their employees."
Sesame President and Co-Founder Michael Botta, PhD, said at least one large health system has expressed interest in a potential partnership for fully-insured employees whose plans don't cover brand-name weight-loss drugs.
For employers, such partnerships provide a sought-after benefit for employee retention. However, the future of compounded drug access is unclear, as the FDA has authorized these compounds temporarily due to drug shortages. Brand-name drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have flagged concerns about the quality of compounded drugs, though telehealth companies defend their safety and efficacy.
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