Telehealth provider Hims & Hers Health Inc. announced Thursday the availability of generic semaglutide through its platform, allowing eligible Canadians access to digital prescriptions for the popular drug widely used for weight loss.
With Health Canada’s approval of the first two generic injection semaglutide, the medication popularized by the brand name Ozempic, Canadians can now access a more affordable version of the drug prescribed in the treatment of type 2 diabetes but widely used off-label as an anti-obesity medication.
Hims & Hers has started offering eligible customers personalized treatment plans starting at $149/month, which would include the medication.
“Generic medication will be more affordable than other options, and I think that will be a particularly attractive opportunity for Canadians,” Austin Kouri, general manager of Hims & Hers Canada, said in an interview. “This is obviously a little bit of an unprecedented environment, with Canada being one of the first to bring generics in the market.”
Canada is the first in the G7 to have an approved generic version of semaglutide, following Health Canada‘s approval of one made by Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories on April 28 and a second one from Canadian pharmaceutical giant Apotex Inc. on May 1.
Hims & Hers will be offering Apotex’s Apo-semaglutide injection, the generic equivalent of Ozempic launched earlier this month.
Apotex said the product is shipping this week to wholesalers and distributors nationally and should be available to Canadians at their local pharmacies by the end of this week or early next.
“The launch of Apo-semaglutide injection reflects our Canadian roots and our dedication to making important treatment options more accessible to people across Canada,” Martin Arès, president of Apotex Canada, said in a press release when the generic drug launched.
Health Canada is also reviewing seven other submissions for generic semaglutides by different companies, it said. These include Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk’s second brands Plosbrio (similar to Ozempic) and Poviztra (similar to Wegovy), which the Danish pharmaceutical company said were filed to “maintain flexibility,” although it has yet to make any decisions around launching the products.
Earlier this year, Novo Nordisk lost its Canadian patent protection on its popular semaglutide-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, after apparently failing to pay a small fee to maintain the patent.