The trend: Hims & Hers is offering prescription microdoses of compounded GLP-1 semaglutide, joining other telehealth companies promoting mini doses with lower costs and fewer side effects.

Hims touted the incremental compounded doses as medically useful beyond weight loss for other metabolic health risks like sleep apnea and high blood pressure. For context: Novo Nordisk's FDA-approved drug semaglutide for weight loss, Wegovy, is also approved to reduce cardiovascular risks and to treat the fatty liver disease called metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

What’s driving it: Compounded incremental GLP-1 doses are typically a fraction of the standard FDA-approved doses from drugmakers Novo and Eli Lilly. This practice allows the telehealth companies to continue using the FDA provision that allows personalized compounded doses of medications.

• Noom debuted its semaglutide microdosing program in August, starting at $99 for the first three weeks, increasing to $199 per month after. Actress Rebel Wilson is Noom’s spokesperson for its new “Go Micro” ad campaign, championing GLP-1 microdoses along with “microhabits” like reaching for a healthy snack or meeting a daily step goal.
• Smaller online telehealth companies like Found and Midi Health offer compounded microdoses of GLP-1s. Some physicians are also prescribing smaller than recommended doses for their patients for weight loss maintenance, metabolic health, anti-inflammatory effects, and lower costs, per Medscape.

Why it matters: Microdoses of GLP-1s are not FDA approved, but the ad hoc practice of smaller doses began taking off on social media last year.

It's driven by a variety of reasons: to lower costs, to lose weight more gradually, or to avoid the side effects of higher clinical doses.

• 36% of GLP-1 users are currently microdosing their prescribed meds, per a Tebra survey in April.
• 38% use microdosing to save money, per Tebra.
• 64.8% of people taking GLP-1s who did not have diabetes discontinued them within a year, per a JAMA Open Network study in January, with moderate to severe adverse gastrointestinal effects associated with higher risk of discontinuation.

What it means for telehealth companies: Microdosing could broaden the appeal of compounded GLP-1s beyond consumers with obesity to those interested in metabolic health, cardiovascular improvements, or gradual weight management.

By positioning mini doses as a health and wellness tool, companies like Hims and Noom can attract new customers who may be concerned about the side effects of full-strength drugs. The new microdosing strategies could bolster business models, but long-term viability depends on the current FDA compounding rules and the continued absence of legal action by patent holders Lilly and Novo.

What it means for GLP-1 marketers: Microdosing signals an emerging trend in the GLP-1 market focused on maintenance and metabolic health. As patients and providers move to try lower-cost doses with fewer side effects, some demand may shift from full-strength prescriptions. That puts pressure on Novo and Lilly to engage physicians around maintenance dosing and longer term patient retention strategies.

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