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“This is America,” goes the musical refrain of the new Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad for its compounded obesity drugs. But Hims & Hers has a strikingly different view of America than the innovative companies that have invested billions of dollars in coming up with better ways of addressing the nation’s health crises.
The ad affirms that new GLP-1s medicine “work,” but claims that they’re “priced for profits.” That’s a myth, one that is ironic given that it’s Hims & Hers—not the innovators—that is pocketing millions of dollars made by selling knockoff versions of breakthrough medicines:
- The company didn’t invent obesity medicines. They’re not studying the treatments or working on next-generation approaches. Instead, they’re freeriding on a system built by scientists and entrepreneurs.
- The FDA has received hundreds of adverse event reports from compounded GLP-1 medicines, including untested and counterfeit medicine.
- The campaign is doubly ironic given the cost of a Super Bowl ad, which USA Today pegged at about $7 million. Where did Hims & Hers get the millions to afford such a splash? From the same consumers it claims to celebrate. To Hims & Hers, “This is America.”
Innovator companies live in a different America, one where commitment and scientific advancement matter:
- GLP-1 medicines have been under development since the early 1990s, evolving from unwieldy, twice-daily injections with modest efficacy to the breakthroughs of today and tomorrow. That progression was made possible by a commitment to continued research that doesn’t exist at Hims & Hers or other compounders.
- Obesity medicines have been found to address an ever-growing list of other important health conditions and are now approved to treat heart disease, sleep apnea, and kidney disease. More uses are being researched. Billions are being invested in clinical trials. But not at Hims and Hers.
- Independent third-party groups have affirmed that obesity medicines are cost-effective at their current net prices.
- Gaps in access are not driven, then, by the price of the medicine but rather the refusal of big health insurance companies and the PBMs to cover the medicines, instead foisting costs on individuals. The right way to expand access is not the use of unapproved copycats but by ensuring health plans treat obesity medicine according to the same standards they use in covering any other medicine.
BIO’s View: Today’s obesity therapies are modern marvels, the result of decades of research and billions in investment. Those investments are made possible by a biopharmaceutical ecosystem that rewards and protects innovation. The Hims & Hers approach is nothing more than freeloading in a way that puts patients at risk. While access must remain a priority for all, the right way to expand access is by pushing health plans to cover breakthrough, cost-effective medicines, not by spending millions to push Americans into unapproved products or gray markets.
