(Reuters) -WeightWatchers said on Tuesday it would offer compounded form of Novo Nordisk’s popular obesity drug Wegovy as part of its weight-management programs, sending its shares up 13% in early trading.
Soaring demand for weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, shown to help patients lose as much as 20% of weight on average, has led to their shortages that allowed compounders to produce them under U.S. regulations.
Semaglutide, the key ingredient in Wegovy and Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic, is currently on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s shortage list. Lilly’s drug, however, has been removed from the list.
Over the last six months, roughly 45% of WeightWatchers Clinic members eligible for and prescribed a GLP-1 by their clinician have been denied insurance coverage after three prior authorization requests, the company said.
WeightWatchers had acquired subscription telehealth platform Sequence in 2023, which allowed the weight-loss program operator to offer prescription obesity drugs.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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