{"id":167920,"date":"2025-12-04T15:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/167920\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T15:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T15:11:08","slug":"hims-hers-acquires-livewell-in-canada-in-anticipation-of-generic-ozempic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/167920\/","title":{"rendered":"Hims & Hers acquires Livewell in Canada in anticipation of generic Ozempic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hims & Hers Health Inc. HIMS-N<\/a>, one of the largest U.S. telehealth providers, is entering the Canadian market with the acquisition of Montreal-based Livewell on Thursday and expects to ride the wave of exploding demand for the generic weight-loss drug semaglutide when it becomes available. <\/p>\n

Semaglutide is currently made by Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk NVO-N<\/a> and sold under the brand names Ozempic (prescribed primarily for diabetes) and Wegovy (for obesity). Ozempic is the best-selling drug in Canada by far, earning $2.2-billion at retail pharmacies for the first nine months of 2025, according to IQVIA Canada, with Wegovy also in the top 10 at $441-million.<\/p>\n

Hims & Hers says it is most focused on obesity care in its Canadian services, which begin Thursday. A patient can use the virtual platform to speak with a physician or nurse practitioner about their treatment and, if appropriate, get a prescription and order medication that can be delivered to their door. <\/p>\n

Andrew Dudum, co-founder and chief executive officer of Hims & Hers, said Canada presented a major opportunity for the company\u2019s next international expansion for two reasons: the two-thirds of Canadians who are overweight or obese, according to Statistics Canada<\/a>, and that it is the first major global market where semaglutide loses legal protections. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you layer on top of this very unique situation and timing where you\u2019ve got a massive public health crisis, and then also, one of the first global opportunities to bring exceptionally affordable, advanced therapies to people, that triggered me and our team to move very, very quickly,\u201d Mr. Dudum said.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s public health plans end talks with Novo Nordisk to cover weight-loss drug Wegovy<\/a><\/p>\n

He said most patients on the platform pay out of pocket, not through insurance.<\/p>\n

Hims & Hers estimates in investor presentations that it has about 47 per cent of the virtual-care market in the United States. But in Canada, it will come up against established competitors, many of whom already offer online prescriptions or ordering of brand-name semaglutide, such as Maple, Felix, Phoenix and PocketPills, which has a partnership with Novo Nordisk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never think we have to be the first in market on anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we have to be the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hims & Hers already has international operations in Britain, Germany, France and Spain. Mr. Dudum said the company is also eyeing entry into Brazil, which will be one of the next major markets to see generic semaglutide in March.<\/p>\n

He said Canada will be a roadmap for future countries as Ozempic goes off patent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a case study that we can then think about and learn and try to apply in other key markets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Health Canada approval backlog expected to push back arrival of generic Ozempic<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the timing of when the generic products will be available is up in the air. Although generic semaglutide becomes legal as of Jan. 5, drug makers have told The Globe and Mail that regulatory and manufacturing delays mean the products likely won\u2019t be ready until mid-2026.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dudum said he is expecting there may be one or two generic products within the first half of the year, and by the end of the year it will be a \u201ccompetitive market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hims & Hers has also worked with patented drug makers, including Eli Lilly & Co., maker of rival drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.<\/p>\n

But Hims & Hers has had a rockier relationship with Novo Nordisk, the maker of brand-name Ozempic. The two companies had a partnership that ended amid Novo Nordisk\u2019s concerns<\/a> that Hims & Hers was selling \u201cknock-off compounded\u201d versions of the drug. <\/p>\n

However, Hims & Hers disclosed in its most recent earnings release, on Nov. 3, that it had resumed discussions with Novo Nordisk about making Wegovy available on its platform. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hims & Hers Health Inc. HIMS-N, one of the largest U.S. telehealth providers, is entering the Canadian market…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46,26836],"class_list":{"0":"post-167920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-ne-i"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}