Hims & Hers Health Inc. shares dropped the most in their five-year history after Amazon said it would start marketing drugs to fight hair loss, an important component of the telehealth company’s business.
Hims fell as much as 18 percent Thursday, the most intraday drop since the shares began trading in September 2019. They had tripled this year through Wednesday’s close as its sales of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs skyrocketed.
Amazon has increasingly encroached on various sectors of the consumer health industry while occasionally threatening to widen its sales of prescription drugs. Earlier this year, the online retailer expanded same-day delivery for prescription medication to New York and the greater Los Angeles area, allowing customers to receive drugs within hours for conditions such as diabetes and the flu.
The news is “a reminder that while the Hims story has been almost entirely driven by GLP-1s recently, the majority of the base business remains hair loss and erectile dysfunction,” Michael Cherny, an analyst at Leerink Partners, said in a note. Amazon’s programme “appears to offer a similar idea of convenience at what appears to be a lower price point across the board.”
Amazon’s pay-per-visit telehealth service, via One Medical, offers a clinical visit, treatment plan and free medication delivery for a range of common health, beauty and lifestyle concerns. Its offerings include treatments for men’s hair loss, skin care, eyelash growth and erectile dysfunction, according to its website. Its hair-loss treatment can start low as $16 a month.
Amazon shares fell 0.9 percent Thursday at 11:27 AM.
By Antonia Mufarech
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Hims Debuts $199 Weight-Loss Shots at 85% Discount to Wegovy
This will help customers access these drugs without “navigating the shortages and costs that are currently limiting access to the branded medications,” Hims said in a press release.
