Eli Lilly has terminated its partnership with Noom after the telehealth platform continued to sell knock-off versions of blockbuster GLP-1 drugs.
Lilly’s pharmacy provider “has notified Noom that it is terminating Noom’s LillyDirect platform integration,” a spokesperson for the company told Sherwood News on Friday. The partnership with Noom was announced in March and allowed patients on the platform access to vials of Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound, which are cheaper than the pens typically sold.
Noom has recently promoted “microdosed” GLP-1 treatments, using compounded versions of the diabetes and weight-loss medication. Lilly has previously said that part of its deals with telehealth partners are that they don’t continue selling knock-off versions of GLP-1s.
Noom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zepbound vials (Eli Lilly)
Telehealth companies like Hims & Hers and Noom began selling copies of the popular weight-loss drugs while they were in shortage but were supposed to stop selling them at scale when supply issues waned earlier this year.
Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which makes rival weight-loss drugs, struck deals with several telehealth companies in what they described as an effort to transition patients who were on compounded versions of their drugs to the brand-name version. But some telehealth companies, which can make more money selling knock-offs compared shifting customers to the brand-name version, have quietly continued to offer compounded versions.
The end of Lilly’s partnership with Noom marks the latest schism between drugmakers who manufacture the massively popular drugs and the telehealth companies that have helped expand their reach.
Novo Nordisk has partnerships with telehealth partners. In June, Novo abruptly said it was calling off its deal with Hims & Hers and accused the company of “illegal mass compounding and deceptive marketing.”