The company is building out WeightWatchers Clinic, offering "doctor-led access to prescription medication for those who need it." "We needed to be the first to be proud and loud about the fact that we got it wrong in the past," WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani told CNN, expressing regret that people who used WeightWatchers in the past may have felt bad about...
WeightWatchers is getting into the prescription drug business.
The company is building out WeightWatchers Clinic, offering “doctor-led access to prescription medication for those who need it.”
“We needed to be the first to be proud and loud about the fact that we got it wrong in the past,” WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani told CNN, expressing regret that people who used WeightWatchers in the past may have felt bad about themselves if the company’s program of diet and behavior interventions didn’t work.
Now, she said, the company is embracing the idea that obesity is a chronic condition that some people can’t manage through willpower alone. “What we are now saying is we know better and it’s on us to do better so that we can help people feel positive and destigmatize this conversation around obesity,” said Sistani, who previously founded the messaging app Houseparty that was later acquired by Epic Games.
The new offering was made possible by the $106 million acquisition of Sequence, a San Francisco-based telehealth company that prescribes drugs for diabetes and weight loss.
According to WeightWatchers medical director Spencer Nadolsky, DO, several medications may be prescribed to members who meet Food and Drug Administration guidelines and are deemed eligible by WeightWatchers clinicians. Insurance coverage will vary according to the member’s plan, but the available options include Wegovy (semaglutide), Zepbound (tirzepatide), and Contrave (bupropion-naltrexone), which are all FDA-approved for obesity.
Members may also be eligible to receive Ozempic (semaglutide), Mounjaro (tirzepatide), Trulicity (dulaglutide), or Rybelsus (oral semaglutide), drugs that are currently approved for Type 2 diabetes, but have shown promise — and are often prescribed off-label — to treat obesity.
Ozempic has become a kind of shorthand for this new generation of drugs that proponents say result in disappearing cravings and near miraculous weight loss. The drugs’ popularity has led to shortages — and whispers about which celebrities are currently taking them. But many users report digestive issues and regain weight after going off the drugs, and the long-term effects of the drugs are still being researched.
Still, Morgan Stanley estimates that the market for weight-management medications could hit $77 billion by 2030. About 40 percent of American adults are obese, and the American Medical Association recently recommended that insurance companies cover obesity treatments. Many companies are debating whether to include weight-loss drugs as part of their employee health plans.
Founded in 1963 by Jean Nidetch, WeightWatchers was known for decades for weight-loss strategies like counting calories using a point system, establishing meal plans, and attending group meetings. In 2015, it forged a partnership with Oprah Winfrey.
The company, which went public in 2001 and was named one of Inc.’s Best Led Companies in 2021, at times has struggled to stay relevant. In 2018, the company embraced the body positivity movement, which Sistani, who came on as CEO in 2022, told CNN was a mistake, more rooted in marketing than offering a solid product. The longtime focus on in-person meetings also wasn’t working, as most of its customers had moved to online and in-app offerings, a trend the coronavirus pandemic accelerated.
The changes may alienate longtime users, some of whom worry the company is peddling a quick fix rather than the community and lifestyle interventions they came to appreciate. Blogger Jamie Yonash of Life Is Sweeter by Design told CNN she and other WeightWatchers fans were disappointed by the pivot away from in-person meetings and human connection. “The feedback I have received is that they feel somewhat betrayed that WeightWatchers would promote medications for weight loss, because it seems to go against the core values the company has held for so long,” she said.
Biz Velatini, a food creator who sometimes posts about WeightWatchers on TikTok, told Rolling Stone earlier this year that she found it “unfortunate” the company was embracing weight-loss drugs. “I think WeightWatchers is a great tool because it teaches people how to live a lifestyle and still eat the things you want, but in moderation,” Velatini said.
WeightWatchers isn’t the only company embracing drugs for weight management. In May, New York City-based weight-management app Noom, an Inc. 5000 and Best Workplaces honoree, introduced Noom Med. The service offers prescriptions for weight-loss drugs to qualifying customers who’ve undergone a medical screening, including lab work.
(c) 2023 Mansueto Ventures LLC; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
