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Telehealth company Hims & Hers (HIMS+25.02%) announced Tuesday that it will begin selling Novo Nordisk’s (NVO+3.98%) blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy.
The San Francisco-based company will begin offering the prescription semaglutide on its platform later this week, with a price point starting at $599.
Shares of Hims & Hers soared as much as 36% in premarket trading Tuesday before opening up 28% from Monday’s close. Novo Nordisk stock was up 3% at the open.
“Bringing our teams together and continuing to explore our shared commitment and focus on delivering the future of healthcare has been inspiring,” Hims & Hers founder and CEO Andrew Dudum said in a statement. “We share a vision of what consumer-centered healthcare looks like, and this is just the first step towards delivering that future.”
Customers with a prescription will be able to have the weight loss drug shipped directly to their homes.
Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, on Tuesday announced similar partnerships with telehealth platforms Ro and Life MD (LFMD+30.49%). The prices for a Wegovy prescription will vary across the platforms since they might be bundled with other telehealth services.
The Danish pharma giant framed the deals as a way to expand its customer base as the federal government cracks down on compounded versions of Wegovy. Pharmacies can make customized versions of drugs that are considered by the Food and Drug Administration to be in shortage, but the FDA declared in February that the semaglutide shortage was over.
“We felt it was really important to work hard to establish a collaboration with telehealth companies so that there could be access to Wegovy as the compounding is winding down,” Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s executive vice president of U.S. operations, told CNBC. “We’re really pleased about the level of interest to access branded Wegovy and to start to sort of catch people as they come off of compounded medicine.”
Pharma companies including Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (LLY+1.45%) have taken legal action against compounding pharmacies in recent weeks. Last week, a federal judge in Texas rejected a bid by some of those pharmacies to keep making the drugs while a legal challenge moves forward.
Shares of Hims & Hers are up 38% this year. Novo Nordisk stock is down 26%.