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The digital health company Noom announced Thursday that it is expanding its weight-loss drug offerings to include pills, starting with metformin.
Starting today the company is now offering a low-cost generic version of metformin starting at $29 for the first month and then $89 per month as part of a three-month subscription. This oral treatment has been used to treat type 2 diabetes for half a century and is often prescribed off-label to support weight loss by helping reduce appetite and blood sugar, and improve insulin sensitivity.
Noom will offer metformin as a 500mg daily tablet, with dosing tailored for weight loss. After a medical review by Noom doctors, eligible patients can expect their prescriptions to arrive within a week.
Noom CEO Geoff Cook told Quartz that the rising popularity of GLP-1 medications, driven by the success of Novo Nordisk’s (NVO+2.53%) Ozempic, has transformed how people think about weight loss and has also sparked renewed interest in alternative medical treatments like metformin.
“The nature of how people think about weight loss is changing because GLP-1s are such a part of the zeitgeist now,” Cook said. “And, whereas, maybe even just three or four years ago, you wouldn’t necessarily think of losing weight with a medication,” Cook said.
Like with its other anti-obesity drug offerings, the company will combine access to to this pill with its behavioral weight-loss program to encourage long-term habit changes. People taking metformin typically lose around 2% to 3% of their weight after their first year on the drug.
Cook said the that drug’s weight loss benefits, especially early-on in a person’s weight-loss journey, makes it more likely people will stick to healthier habits.
Cook noted, that internal company data has demonstrated that people lose 58% more weight on Noom in combination with an oral weight-loss medication compared to Noom’s weight-loss program alone.
Additionally, the company said this approach provides an affordable option for those who might prefer oral medications over injectable GLP-1 treatments, particularly for people with a body-mass index (BMI) under 27 or those transitioning off GLP-1 therapies.
Earlier this year, Noom joined other telehealth care companies such as Hims & Hers (HIMS+5.07%), Ro, and Sesame in offering more affordable alternatives to branded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, by introducing an off-brand version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy. Noom had already been offering prescriptions to branded weight loss medications since 2023.
Noom and other telehealth companies are able to offer cheaper versions of GLP-1s because current drug laws allow the sale of compounded versions of a drug when it is in shortage, which many weight-loss drugs have been in recent years. But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently said that some of these drugs are no longer in shortage, potentially jeopardizing this emerging market.
Cook said by diversifying the company’s offerings they are able to guard against the current uncertainty surrounding the industry. The company plans to offer three additional medications early next year.