Startup Noom says it helps members lose weight by tracking their diet and promoting healthy habits. Now it\’s taking it a step further by launching a program that can prescribe a new generation of weight-loss drugs that have gained popularity.
The company recently announced the launch of Noom Med, a new program designed to help some members lose weight with the help of anti-obesity drugs like Wegovy.
We\’ve always seen weight as a proxy for taking care of other chronic conditions, said Linda Anegawa, chief of medicine at Nooms and a board certified physician in obesity medicine and internal medicine. She said the program\’s telehealth services and personalized tools should \”really help people achieve lasting weight loss and better health outcomes.\”
It\’s the latest sign that the new generation of drugs is transforming the way the diet industry operates. WeightWatchers in March announced it would also allow members to request weight-loss drugs, and Jenny Craig earlier this month confirmed she was going out of business due to growing competition from weight-loss drugs.
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How does Noom Med work?
Noom Med users first undergo lab work and a health evaluation by a doctor or nurse. The results allow a physician to create a care plan specific to their health goals.
Medically qualified users will be able to receive a prescription for GLP-1 agonists, a class of drugs including Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic that amplify the natural signal between the stomach and the brain indicating fullness, and other anti-obesity drugs through the program.
![\"Ozempic](\"https://svrcal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-new-weight-loss-program-prescribes-new-weight-loss-drugs.jpg\")
Noom CEO Saeju Jeong said the goal is to help patients avoid chronic disease, increase their lifespan, and improve their ability to enjoy life through weight loss, according to a Wednesday news release. .
How much does Noom Med cost?
The membership fee for Noom Med is $49 per month and is only available to Noom Weight members.
Noom Weight members should start with a four-month subscription billed in advance as an auto-renewing plan for $169, or about $42 per month. Subsequent subscription plans can range from a $70 monthly auto-renewing plan to a $209 yearly auto-renewing plan.
Noom\’s membership fees don\’t cover GLP-1 drugs, which can cost up to $1,000 a month. While the drugs are typically covered by insurance for people with diabetes, the same isn\’t true for those who use injections to lose weight.
Drug companies are lobbying to get insurers, including Medicare, to cover the cost of weight-loss drugs.
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Who is eligible for Noom Med?
Noom Med is available to Noom Weight members with a BMI of at least 30 or those with a BMI of at least 27 if they have a weight-related medical condition such as type 2 diabetes.
According to BMI standards, underweight is considered to be under 18.5, normal weight is between 18.5 and 25, overweight is between 25 and 30, and obesity is over 30.
But Anegawa acknowledges that BMI \”isn\’t the perfect barometer of someone\’s health,\” as it doesn\’t distinguish between muscle and fat and can produce skewed results. That\’s why Noom also has members receive metabolic blood tests and have a one-on-one video meeting with a doctor before they can qualify for the drug.
\”All of these different things will help create the right personalized treatment plan and make sure that if the drugs are used, they\’re being used appropriately and safely,\” Anegawa said. \”Not all people with a high BMI need medication or even need to lose weight.\”
What drug does Noom prescribe?
Anegawa said Noom Med offers a variety of weight loss drugs, including GLP-1 drugs.
The GLP-1 class of drugs includes Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are prescribed to treat diabetes, and Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk, which has been approved to treat weight loss. The drug is administered by weekly self-injections.
Novo Nordisk said it was having trouble keeping Wegovy in stock again, after spending the better part of last year solving supply issues. The company has stopped its advertising for the drug and won\’t be able to meet demands for its escalating doses, the lowest starting doses starting at 0.25 milligrams which are intended to minimize side effects. Patients gradually increase the dosage to the maintenance dose of 2.4 milligrams.
We expect many patients will have difficulty meeting Wegovy\’s prescriptions at these doses through September 2023, Allison Schneider, director of the company\’s issue management and media relations division, wrote in an email.
Last year, when Novo Nordisk implemented a similar policy intended to prevent new patients from starting therapy, some simply started on higher doses, risking nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal side effects.
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We understand how frustrating this situation is for the communities we serve and appreciate everyone\’s patience as we continue to handle significant demand for Wegovy, Schneider wrote. Please note that our commitment to the obesity community is long-term and we are investing significantly to build capacity to meet this growing demand.
Demand for Wegovy is skyrocketing, with the number of prescriptions filled in the first four months of 2023 up 568% from the same period last year, according to SingleCare, a prescription savings service.
Novo Nordisk also announced this week that a pill form of the same drug found in Wegovy, generically called semaglutide, can help people lose 15 percent of their body weight, comparable to weekly injections. The journal JAMA Network Open also published a study this week showing that Pfizer\’s experimental twice-daily pill, which also targets GLP-1, could safely trigger substantial weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes.
Do Weight Loss Drugs Work?
The new class of drugs, originally developed to treat diabetes, has been shown to help people shed 15% to 20% of their excess weight enough to substantially improve health issues like diabetes and heart problems.
But there are concerns that it could be long-term problems.
Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and constipation. A real-world study found that nearly half of people who used a previous generation of GLP-1 diabetes medications quit within a year, and 70 percent within two years. Meanwhile, about 4 percent of people in a clinical study stopped taking Wegovy due to side effects.
Studies thus far have followed users for just two years, so it\’s unclear whether the drugs can maintain weight long-term or if further side effects will emerge later. Doctors note that patients are likely to regain the weight they lose if they stop taking their medications.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also warns that the drugs may increase the risk of thyroid cancer, acute pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, low blood sugar, kidney injury, damage to the retina of the eye, and suicidal thoughts or behaviors, although the risks of serious side effects are small.
Doctors say users should still exercise and eat well to improve their health.
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Health benefits of weight loss?
Substantial weight loss is generally associated with improved health.
\”Even a 5% to 10% weight loss can have tremendous health benefits,\” said Laura Montour, co-director of the Center for Weight Loss and Metabolic Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine. \”So these drugs, they\’re game-changing.\”
But health experts also note that having a high body mass index doesn\’t mean a person is inherently unhealthy. For example: Thin people can have high blood pressure, and there are many people considered medically obese who don\’t.
It\’s not yet clear whether weight-loss drugs will improve patient health outcomes, and studies suggest that a cycle of losing and gaining weight can cause more damage to your health than carrying on extra pounds.
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