Two telehealth firms turn to branded Zepbound as restrictions loom on copies

Adds LifeMD comment in paragraph 8

By Sriparna Roy

March 6 (Reuters) - Telehealth firms Teladoc TDOC.N and LifeMD LFMD.O said on Thursday they had signed an agreement to offer Eli Lilly's LLY.N weight-loss drug Zepbound to self-paying patients, ahead of restrictions on selling copies known as compounded drugs.

Both companies said they had signed deals with Gifthealth, the pharmacy partner of Lilly's direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect, through which the drugmaker sells vials of Zepbound at discounts for cash-pay customers.

The move offers the telehealth companies an avenue to keep selling the highly popular weight-loss drugs even as the compounded drugs industry faces increasing restrictions on making copies of the treatments.

While Lilly's Zepbound and rival Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO Wegovy were in shortage, several telehealth companies sold the cheaper copies of the treatments. The branded drugs have since been removed from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's shortage list.

Teladoc said it does not offer compounded versions of the drugs, but patients are prescribed the branded medications.

The agreement portends more deals of this nature by telehealth companies given that bulk compounding is likely to be significantly curtailed, Citi analyst Daniel Grosslight said.

A federal judge on Wednesday denied an injunction that would allow compounding pharmacies to keep making copies of Zepbound in the U.S.

LifeMD has and does offer access to compounded versions, but is prepared to respond appropriately to changes otherwise, the company said.

The FDA also said last month there was no longer a shortage of Novo's weight-loss and diabetes drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, a declaration that will curtail the widespread sale of cheaper copies.

The agreement with Gifthealth will allow eligible members without insurance coverage to gain access to single-use vials that can be delivered directly to their homes, Teladoc said.

Integration with LillyDirect's self-pay pharmacy channel would allow seamless access to branded Zepbound vials at the newly reduced self-pay price, LifeMD said.

Telehealth company Ro in December began offering single-dose vials of Zepbound and was directly integrated with LillyDirect's self-pay pharmacy.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

((Sriparna.Roy@thomsonreuters.com;))