The Omada Health logo is displayed on the screen of a smartphone.
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virtual care company Health Omada On Thursday, it said it will begin prescribing GLP-1 and other obesity medications and help patients manage those medications.
Omada plans to expand its weight management program offerings as its membership grows to more than 800,000.
The announcement comes as digital health companies increase their presence in the successful market for GLP-1 to treat obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases, a space that could be worth approximately $100 billion by the end of the decade, according to some analysts. Several digital health companies similarly offer prescriptions for GLP-1, and the makers of those drugs, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, are taking steps to make their treatments more accessible while developing new ones for patients.
“The announcement responds to our belief that access to LPG-1 will grow quite significantly over time,” Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy said in an interview. He said Omada recognizes that the market will expand beyond GLP-1 injections toward pills and other “next-generation” treatments that work in different ways, underscoring the need to help patients manage their medications.
Programs from companies like Omada aim to support lifestyle and behavioral changes for patients taking those medications, offering nutritional guidance, education, and a team of health coaches and exercise specialists, among other resources, that can help people stay on the medications longer. But Omada is now turning to licensed providers trained in obesity care to prescribe medications and help patients administer them.
The new offering will allow the company to help patients while they receive a prescription and during their time on a GLP-1. That kind of support is crucial, as GLP-1 injections can be complicated for patients to use correctly and often come with gastrointestinal side effects that force some people to stop treatment.
“If you need to increase or decrease the dose, change medications, whatever. We will be able to help you through this experience,” Duffy said.
Omada, which partners with national and regional employers and health plans, also said the new offering is a complement for clients to better support the health needs of their workers while controlling costs and improving outcomes from obesity treatments.
Also on Thursday, Omada Health reported quarterly earnings for the second time since its initial public offering in June.
The company, founded in 2011, offers virtual care programs to support patients with chronic diseases such as prediabetes, diabetes and hypertension. Omada describes his approach as an “intervisit care model” that is complementary to the broader healthcare ecosystem.
