Eli Lilly’s telehealth deals require platforms to stop compounding GLP-1s, CFO says

Eli Lilly’s deals with telehealth companies to sell cheaper versions of its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound come with a caveat: the telehealth companies cannot sell compounded versions of its GLP-1 drug, nor its competitors’.

Lucas Montarce, Lilly’s chief financial officer, on Tuesday shed some light on some of the deals the drugmaker has cut with telehealth providers that have become an important pillar of the weight-loss market. Many of the telehealth companies began selling copycat versions of Zepbound, as well as Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy, while they were in shortage.

Now that the shortage of those drugs is over, many telehealth platforms have sought to keep selling compounded versions of the weight-loss drugs made by Lilly and Novo, nibbling at their market share and irritating the drugmakers. Lilly has reached deals with some of those providers to sell branded Zepbound, but few details were known before Tuesday.

“We are enforcing in those agreements that, as long as the product is out of the shortage list, that those telehealth services are not compounding either tirzepatide or semaglutide, right?” Montarce said at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, referring to the two active ingredients in Zepbound and Wegovy.

Telehealth company Ro does not promote compounded GLP-1s on its website, though it is presented as an option after filling out the survey. Noom lists compounded GLP-1s as an offering on its site. Both have partnerships with Lilly. A Lilly spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other telehealth companies, like Hims & Hers, have gone all in on compounding, which they say offers “personalized” treatments for their patients. Selling branded, compounded drugs is also more profitable for them than flipping generics or brand-name drugs. Lilly and Novo have sued some of the telehealth providers selling compounded versions of their drugs.

The drugmakers have also lowered their prices in an effort to capture customers previously on compounded prescriptions. Both Lilly and Novo both introduced special rates for uninsured patients starting at about $400 a month, which is higher than the roughly $200 compounders charge, but significantly lower than the upward of $1,000 those companies charge insured patients.