It's plainly apparent that Novo Nordisk has had May 22 circled its calendar since February, when the FDA began the countdown for compounders to stop selling their versions of semaglutide.
Now that the day has come, the Danish drugmaker is capitalizing on the chance to steer more patients toward its branded offerings.
Self-paying patients new to Wegovy can access a one-month supply of the obesity blockbuster for $199 through June 30, Novo announced on Thursday. After that, the drug will go for its standing price of $499 a month for cash-paying customers, which was discounted in March from a previous price tag of $650 per month.
The one-time offer is meant to help patients who were previously taking compounded versions of semaglutide, which swarmed the market back when the branded versions were in short supply. Now that time has run out on the knockoffs, the company is “doubling down on our commitment to accessibility, availability, and affordability of authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy,” Dave Moore, executive vice president of Novo’s U.S. operations, said in a company release.
That commitment also comes with a renewed marketing push in the form of Novo’s new “Choose the Real Thing” campaign. The advertisement follows up on the company’s “Check Before You Inject” campaign and looks to spell out the risks of fake semaglutide while inviting viewers to check out information about the branded product at a Novo webpage. The new ads will run in digital channels at the end of May.
The new initiatives are just a couple of Novo’s marketing strategies in its long battle against compounders. The company has also filed nearly 120 lawsuits targeting compounding pharmacies across 34 states and will “continue pursuing legal action,” the drugmaker said Thursday.
Fake versions of Novo’s GLP-1s ran rampant when the company’s semaglutide was on the FDA’s shortage list, as compounding pharmacies are permitted to make close approximations of branded drugs when reference meds are in short supply. That shortage was officially lifted in February, prompting the FDA to start its crackdown on compounders. Large, federally licensed compounders were given until May 22 to produce their copycats in order to avoid disruptions to treatment.
With the end of the grace period, “any entity that mass produces or sells knockoff 'semaglutide' is breaking the law and putting patient safety at risk,” Novo stressed in its release.
Last month, Novo opened a new page in its Wegovy access playbook by joining hands with a few telehealth companies that previously offered compounded semaglutide. Hims & Hers, Ro and LifeMD all signed on to offer brand-name Wegovy on their platforms through Novo’s direct-to-consumer service, NovoCare.
While Novo can likely breathe easier now that compounders are exiting the stage, the knockoffs have already left their mark on Wegovy sales. The company recently cut down its full-year sales forecast based on “lower-than-planned penetration of branded GLP-1 treatments in the U.S., impacted by compounded GLP-1s,” it said in a first-quarter update.
Beyond the compounders, other troubles have been mounting at Novo, namely with rival Eli Lilly gaining an edge on the obesity market. "Market challenges” were the reason cited for the recently announced departure of Novo's CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, as the company now searches for his successor.