Key Takeaways
- Noom is now offering its own compounded version of semaglutide—an active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic—through its telehealth marketplace.
- The FDA has ended the semaglutide shortage and set a May 22 deadline for compounders to cease production. Noom argues for a “personalized” exception, but it’s unclear how the FDA will respond given the regulatory gray area around compounded GLP-1 drugs.
- Noom’s product will be significantly cheaper (starting at $149/month) than branded options like Wegovy or Zepbound ($349/month) by using a microdosing approach. Patients begin with 0.25 mg and ramp up to the FDA-approved dose of 2.4 mg over 20 weeks.
Noom, an online weight loss company, will now be selling small doses of compounded versions of Wegovy, the prescription medication developed by Novo Nordisk.
As reported by Reuters,1 the online weight loss company will have its own version of compounded semaglutide available via its marketplace. The ingredient is not only found in Wegovy but also Ozempic, another GLP-1 produced by the Danish manufacturer.
Following FDA protocol
Noom has been on the record as saying that it plans to fully abide by FDA regulations, but being that the semaglutide shortage is officially over2 and the final deadline for compounders to stop producing it is May 22, it remains to be seen how or if the FDA will take action. On its website, the teleleath site writes3 that “compounded semaglutide mimics GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), a naturally occurring hormone your body produces that helps you feel full and satisfied after you eat,” meaning that there is a distinction between the original semaglutide and its compounded version. However, it also technically belongs to the GLP-1 receptor agonist class, which is the where the confusion arises.
Meanwhile, Geoff Cook, Noom’s CEO, noted that selling this product would not interfere with any current regulations, commenting to Reuters that “there is a personalized, and there has always been a personalized, exception.”
Especially as of late, the sale of weight loss drugs by telehealth companies has been a trend. As the public may recall, Hims & Hers began selling various Eli Lilly drugs on their platform last month—both branded forms of tirzepatide—including Zepbound, a GLP-1 receptor agonist approved by the FDA for weight loss, and Mounjaro, which is not approved for weight loss but for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.4
As it stands, compounders are allowed to produce copies for people if the doses are not available in branded drugs, which is the situation in this particular case. However, the FDA has been looking into investigating if semaglutide and tirzepatide would be an exception to that, due to their complexity.
The company will be selling its compounded semaglutide for $149 for the first month; for context, Wegovy or Zepbound cost $349 for a 2.5-milligram vial.
