LLY.US (LLY.US) “let go” and teamed up with her former rival Hims (HIMS.US) to grab the diet pills market at their own expense

The Zhitong Finance App learned that LLY.US (LLY.US) is collaborating with Hims & Hers Health Inc. (HIMS.US) to use this telemedicine company's huge customer base to cover a wider range of people, thereby boosting drug sales, including its new oral weight loss drug, Foundayo.

The agreement, announced on Friday, will make it easier for customers of the Hims platform to directly access Eli Lilly's weight loss medicines at discounted prices through the platform. For Eli Lilly, this collaboration provides another way to reach patients willing to receive treatment for obesity at their own expense — a group that is becoming increasingly important in a booming market.

“Our goal is to improve drug accessibility through multiple channels as much as possible, understand where consumers are located, and provide services where they are accustomed,” Ilya Yuffa (Ilya Yuffa), president of Eli Lilly's US and Global Customer Competency, said in an interview.

The partnership also marked an unexpected settlement: previously, the pharmaceutical giant had deliberately kept a distance from Hims, a telemedicine platform due to issues related to compounding weight loss drugs.

This shift reflects the broader landscape of the obesity treatment market: pharmaceutical companies are increasingly embracing the telemedicine companies they once tried to curb — companies that previously sold cheap generic versions of their drugs. Platforms like Hims have established huge businesses, serving millions of people receiving treatment at their own expense, making them valuable partners for pharmaceutical companies seeking to reach patients outside of traditional insurance channels.

Andrew Dudum (Andrew Dudum), CEO of Hims, said in an interview: “Users want to receive medical services here and look forward to seeking medical treatment here. At the same time, they require a high-quality and consumer-friendly experience. This also confirms that the industry is undergoing changes: innovative results can directly reach users, eliminating complicated intermediate links.”

According to Yufa, about 30% to 40% of patients receive obesity drugs through telemedicine channels. Eli Lilly has partnered with a number of telemedicine companies, including Ro and Weight Watchers.

Earlier this year, Hims announced a similar collaboration with Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk (NVO.US), ending months of feud between the two sides.

Yufa said that patients who previously used Hims had to leave the telemedicine platform to obtain Eli Lilly's medication, a process that prevented them from actually completing treatment. This means that relatively few Hims customers have access to Eli Lilly's medicines.

Today, they'll be able to more seamlessly take advantage of Eli Lilly's discounts for patients at their own expense. Eli Lilly's new obesity pill, Foundayo, costs $149 per month at a minimum dose, while Zepbound starts at $299 per month.

The partnership is also likely to expand Foundayo's customer base — sales of the drug fell short of expectations in the three-month quarter ending October. However, Eli Lilly has recently stepped up marketing activities around the drug, including launching a new commercial starring Martha Stewart (Martha Stewart).

For Hims, the agreement opens up another path of growth, as it is shifting from compound GLP-1 drugs to drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has the potential to ease the tension with one of the most powerful pharmaceutical companies in the industry. Eli Lilly has always been one of the fiercest critics of companies that sell unapproved versions of its drugs, vowed not to cooperate with such companies, and even filed lawsuits against some of them.

Yufa stressed that Hims has never sold compound versions of Eli Lilly drugs and promised not to sell them in the future. This was a key consideration when Lilly chose to cooperate with him in the end.

This collaboration could eventually be extended to Eli Lilly's next generation therapies. Dudum said he expects the two sides to deepen cooperation in the next few years as Eli Lilly's product portfolio continues to expand, particularly around retatrutide, an obese drug that has received much attention.

“Over the next few years, we'll be collaborating on all upcoming expanded products, including drugs such as retatrutide that will be launched next year and all the innovations in this pipeline,” Dudum said.