(Reuters) -Telehealth firm LifeMD said on Tuesday it would offer Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic at $499 per month to eligible U.S. patients.
Eligible self-pay and uninsured patients, as well as insured patients whose plans do not cover GLP-1 therapies, will have access to all approved doses of Ozempic, the company said, referring to the class of treatments that help regulate appetite and glucose metabolism.
Shares of the New York-based company were up 6.2% at $6.84 in early trading.
Novo offers Ozempic for $499 a month to eligible cash-paying patients via its own pharmacy, NovoCare, and through tie-ups with other telehealth platforms such as GoodRx.
“We’re strengthening our ability to deliver FDA-approved GLP-1 therapies at the most competitive self-pay prices on the market,” said LifeMD CEO Justin Schreiber.
The drugmaker also collaborates with LifeMD and other telehealth firms to sell its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy as part of its efforts to stem sales of compounded versions and expand access to cash-paying patients.
The Danish drugmaker is battling slowing growth for Wegovy as it loses market share to Eli Lilly’s rival treatment Zepbound.
LifeMD also partners with Lilly’s pharmacy channel, Gifthealth, through which the drugmaker sells vials of Zepbound at discounts for cash-paying customers.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
