Digital health companies seek lasting edge amid GLP-1 gold rush

GLP-1s offer new revenue opportunities for digital health players

It's not hard to see why digital health companies are going all-in on the GLP-1 boom. Digital health companies are well-positioned to get GLP-1s into consumers' hands through virtual prescribing. And the move into the GLP-1 space appears to be working out for many of these companies.

Take Omada Health, which announced that it will prescribe anti-obesity medications, including GLP-1s, less than six months after going public in June 2025. The company added the prescribing capability to its existing GLP-1 care track program, which offers patients on GLP-1s with nutrition guidance, education and access to health coaches and cardiometabolic specialists.

According to Omada Health CEO Sean Duffy, GLP-1 care services are a vital part of the company's portfolio not only because the demand for the medications is on the rise, but because they also provide an entry point to Omada's other digital health programs focused on chronic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension and musculoskeletal issues.

"Even if an employer opens the door for a conversation with Omada because of GLP-1s, they pretty quickly realize, well, shoot, not everybody who wants to improve health in my employee population and reduce weight wants a GLP-1 -- and I also have an issue with hypertension, with diabetes, MSK," he said. "And so it actually turns into sales for the broader Omada [portfolio]…It's a broader tailwind that's really lifting all boats there, which is really nice."

The company recently reported a 42% year-over-year revenue jump in the first quarter of 2026. During the earnings call, Duffy highlighted that GLP-1 capabilities are "driving growth across the full cardiometabolic suite." The revenue impact of the company's investment in GLP-1s, he believes, will become even more apparent in 2027 and beyond.

Duffy also views Omada's broader cardiometabolic suite, particularly its GLP-1 care track program, as a way to maximize the value of GLP-1 medications.

"Our clients, they just started to get really worried about what they saw in the data, because if they were paying for GLP-1s for obesity, they'd see weight loss and then weight regain," he explained.

To allay client concerns, Omada has focused on gathering clinical evidence demonstrating that its wraparound GLP-1 care services help sustain the weight loss people achieve while using the medications.

"We put out a recent study that showed 2.1x increase in fat loss in our care track than our control, and then three times more muscle retained," Duffy said. "And then we've seen up to 12 months weight maintenance post-discontinuation. And so those are the results that we bring to our enterprise buyers."

Omada is far from the only digital health company to be carving out a space in the GLP-1 market. Hims & Hers experienced a major revenue boost from expanding its offerings beyond sexual health and hair regrowth to include weight-loss services. In its Q4 2025 earnings call, Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO, noted that the company's "weight loss offering reached $100 million revenue run rate in less than seven months after launch." This speed outstripped its other offerings, which took "three and sometimes even four years to (inaudible) $100 million in annual revenue."

This revenue boost occurred despite the significant blowback Hims & Hers faced when it initially announced plans to advertise and sell compounded versions of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications. After a brief partnership with Novo Nordisk to sell a compounded version of the Wegovy pill fell apart in 2025, the company faced lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny, including warnings from the FDA.

The company pivoted earlier this year, announcing that it would no longer advertise compounded GLP-1 products on its platform and would prescribe them only in limited circumstances. Instead, it will provide access to FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including Ozempic and Wegovy.

GLP-1s continue to feature prominently on the company's website, indicating their critical position in the company's portfolio.

During the company's Q1 2026 earnings call, Dudum noted that it fulfilled more than 125,000 shipments of Wegovy products within the first six weeks of their launch on the platform.

"We are seeing adoption in weight loss near record levels, even beyond the demand we saw following this year's New Year's and Super Bowl campaigns," he said.

However, as GLP-1 demand continues to grow and more digital health companies step in to close access gaps, the price of the medications is decreasing, Trzcinski pointed out. For companies already committed to the GLP-1 revenue pathway, this market saturation and price compression may present challenges.

Sustaining the revenue bump will require a holistic approach to GLP-1 care

As digital health companies establish their GLP-1 strategy going forward, Trzcinski suggests they consider gaps in the GLP-1 care journey, including the tapering process.

"We don't yet know or have a lot of data in terms of definitively saying, this is when folks can come off of these drugs," she said. "This is when they can taper, how they taper. Whoever figures out that and does that well and thinks about how do we help folks successfully come off of these medications and offer the reference services, medications, other things that perhaps they need in conjunction with coming off of these drugs, those are the folks that people are going to gravitate to."

Not only that, but employers and payers would also be more interested in companies that can help their employees and members taper off medications and better manage their overall health, as this will ultimately help them manage healthcare costs in the long term, she added.

Simply offering prescriptions for the medications may not be a reliable revenue growth strategy as the GLP-1 market evolves. Rather, Trzcinski emphasized that companies that can eke out a role in the overarching weight-loss management continuum will be better positioned to navigate market pressures.

This is the approach that Omada plans to take, and the company is excited about its position, Duffy shared.

"You have some [companies] that are more or less GLP-1 vending machines," he said. "We're kind of a 180 of that, which is a holistic evidence-based metabolic care provider that uses GLPs as a tool in the toolkit, but equally has, from day one, emphasized lifestyle support, care within the context of your GLP-1 [journey], listening to your goals on how long you want to stay on the medicine, following obesity standard guidelines, really generating our own evidence."

 Omada also has relationships with three national PBMs -- Optum Rx, CVS Caremark and Express Scripts -- and plans to join Eli Lilly and Company's Employer Connect program, offering new direct-to-employer channels for its GLP-1 Care Track.

Though wraparound, comprehensive care can help digital health companies keep a foothold in the GLP-1 market, Trzcinski cautioned that the broader regulatory and reimbursement landscape remains uncertain. And data on outcomes and cost will be critical to shaping that landscape.

"There's a lot of uncertainty and lack of data around these drugs," Trzcinski said. "We still need more time. And I think, ultimately, it will create some volatility for these companies in the future as we learn more. But it also presents an incredible opportunity and hopefully an opportunity for population health as well."

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers healthcare IT and innovation, including artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, EHRs and interoperability.