Investing.com -- Shares of Hims & Hers Health Inc (NYSE:HIMS) rose 6.3% on Friday following an agreement with Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) to sell its weight-loss treatments directly through the telehealth provider's platform. The partnership eliminates a previous friction point for patients, who previously had to navigate away from Hims & Hers to Lilly's standalone cash-pay portal, LillyDirect, to access the drugmaker's branded therapies.
Under the terms of the deal, eligible consumers can consult with a licensed provider, obtain a prescription, and have FDA-approved therapies delivered to their homes within a single digital ecosystem. Pricing mirrors LillyDirect's cash-pay structure, setting the monthly self-pay cost for Lilly's newly launched oral drug Foundayo at $149, while the injectable GLP-1 therapy Zepbound begins at $299 per month.
The distribution agreement positions Lilly on equal footing with Danish competitor Novo Nordisk, which has distributed its Wegovy and Ozempic medications via Hims & Hers since March. That move followed previous legal friction between Novo and the telehealth platform over compounded alternatives, whereas Hims & Hers confirmed it has never offered compounded versions of Lilly's GLP-1s and committed to avoiding them going forward.
The move intensifies the competitive race in the high-demand obesity category, where drugmakers are increasingly leveraging direct-to-consumer digital channels to capture self-pay demand. While Lilly holds leadership in injectable efficacy with Zepbound, Novo has maintained an early volume advantage with millions of oral doses sold in the U.S. since launching its Wegovy pill three months ahead of Foundayo.
Novo's treatments on the platform currently start at $149 per month for its Wegovy pill and $199 per month for its injectable pen. Investors will likely watch whether Lilly's parity on Hims & Hers accelerates market-share gains for Foundayo against Novo's established oral footprint as direct-to-consumer adoption broadens.
Original Article
Hims & Hers stock climbs on direct partnership with Eli Lilly for obesity drugs
Oracle falls 4% as Microsoft reportedly winds down AI cloud capacity deal
