STAT+: Novo Nordisk links to telehealth providers for patients seeking Wegovy
Novo Nordisk has taken the next step in selling its drugs directly to patients by pointing them to telehealth providers that can write prescriptions for its popular obesity medication Wegovy. The company now links to select virtual providers on the NovoCare direct-to-patient pharmacy website it launched earlier this year, joining other pharma giants that have leaned into direct sales through their own online portals.
These new direct-to-consumer medication sites combine telehealth access points with pharmacy fulfillment, coupons, and patient information — sometimes with exclusive cash-pay pricing. Eli Lilly launched LillyDirect in January 2024 and was followed by Pfizer’s patient-facing site PfizerForAll later in the year. Partnering with telehealth companies is growing as a pharma marketing tactic even as the practice has come under scrutiny from lawmakers and health policy experts who raise concerns it may create improper relationships between drugmakers and health care providers.
Both NovoCare and LillyDirect now point patients to two of the same telehealth providers: Form Health and 9amHealth. But their site visitors won’t find them the same way. NovoCare links to the telehealth providers only on its page for the GLP-1 obesity medication Wegovy — not for its other obesity drug, Saxenda, or any of its diabetes medications. LillyDirect points patients looking for obesity care to both telehealth sites, and to 9amHealth for patients looking for type 2 diabetes care — visits that may result in prescriptions for Lilly’s GLP-1 obesity drug Zepbound or its insulins.
Katie Palmer
Go to statnews