Novo's expanding collaboration with Weight Watchers
Novo Nordisk expanded their collaboration with Weight Watchers, offering an introductory price of $299
Novo Nordisk has recently expanded it's collaboration with Weight Watchers:
So what do Weight Watchers members get out of this deal? Well access to GLP1s for one, but until July 31st 2025, there's a reduced price for Wegovy – $299.
A quick background on Weight Watchers
Some may have never heard of Weight Watchers – it's been around for quite a while, starting back in 1963:
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How the company got started is quite interesting, but the quick summary is that an enterprising woman (Jean Nidetch) who enrolled in a (quite dated, by today's standards) diet program was unsatisfied with the "bedside manner" of the medical professional involved:
Although Nidetch lost 20 pounds on the ten-week program,[7] she did not like the way the clinic's leader imparted information at the weekly meetings. Discussion was discouraged;[18][19][15] in addition, Nidetch's motivation was threatened by her urge to binge on Mallomar cookies.[6][20][11][21]
She therefore began a weekly support group in her apartment, initially inviting six overweight friends,[22][6][23] which within two months grew to 40 women each week.[6] She introduced the "Prudent Diet", a single page from the New York City Board of Health,[24] to her fellow weight-loss seekers,[25][9] and the group provided empathy, rapport, mutual understanding, support, and sharing of stories and ideas.[26][17][9][15][22][6]
The meetings also included a weekly weigh-in,[27] and Nidetch developed a rewards system including prizes for weight-loss milestones.[28] In October 1962, Nidetch achieved her target weight of 142 pounds, and maintained the weight loss; according to her she never exceeded 150 pounds thereafter.
From there, Weight Watchers was born - a company focused on helping people lose weight by helping people in a more holistic manner:
Nidetch and the Lipperts launched Weight Watchers Inc. in Queens in 1963 with Nidetch as president and evangelist. They rented public meeting venues and charged participants $2 per weekly meeting;[30][31][29] the first official meeting, in May 1963, attracted 400 attendees.[32][33] Nidetch led groups and trained others to lead groups as well.[34]
Weight Watchers went bankrupt. Now it's staking it's comeback on GLP1s
Despite how successful the company was as a startup (eventually being sold to Heinz), the business actually declined and went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year and has only recently exited that process.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is often referred to as "restructuring" – this means that the company acknowledges it's inability to pay back it's debts, and then makes deals (essentially) with it's creditors:
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Weight Watchers' announcement about the end of the restructuring is worth a read:
More importantly though, the company is betting it's success on GLP1s, and the partnership with Novo Nordisk is key:
Weight Watchers members will pay less, but only temporarily
To kick start the process, Weight watchers is offering a reduced price for Wegovy for members:
Additionally, Novo Nordisk is offering a limited-time savings offer available to WeightWatchers Clinic members. Starting July 1, 2025, eligible cash-pay members can access Wegovy® at a reduced price of $299 until July 31, 2025—a significant savings aimed at expanding access to clinically validated, FDA-regulated treatment options.
Unfortunately this offer is time limited. This means that prices aren't likely to stay this low for long, but there is the possibility of this tactic being used in the future.
As expected, Novo Nordisk (like any other company) wants to maintain it's pricing power, even in the presence of the partnership.
Is Weight Watchers effective?
The technology behind GLP1 receptor agonists is backed by trials, studies and research that show conclusively that it works. Weight Watchers is a much harder to conclusively declare effective, but it does look to work:
Reviewed:Allison Dimauro, MA
Linked studies show that Weight Watchers is effective on a much smaller scale than GLP1s. The most directly correlated one seemed to be this one:
✉Corresponding Author: Jonathan P Little jonathan.littleubc.ca ✉Corresponding author.
There is another study that is incredibly useful which is a study out of Eastern Illinois titled "Of the Most Common Weight-loss Programs, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and Medifast, which is the most effective?"
In the era of GLP1s, clearly these approaches are all somewhat dated, but analysis of their efficacy is still important, especially if deciding whether adding Weight Watchers to a GLP1 regimen makes sense.
One thing is clear – Weight Watchers will definitely be more effective with GLP1s as a tool.
The benefits of Weight Watchers's holistic approach along with GLP1's weight loss efficacy may be key to unlocking even greater weight loss for people, but the research has not yet borne that out – it would take years to try to measure the effects of both on a population, and it's probably going to be much harder to find people who are willing to forgo GLP1s (when available) in the future.
Are there any other benefits for Weight Watchers members?
Weight Watchers members might be able to participate in more Novo Nordisk research initiatives:
In addition to affordability and access improvements, WeightWatchers and Novo Nordisk will explore opportunities to further collaborate on real-world research initiatives and strategies to improve long-term outcomes. The intent will be to evaluate the potential impact of pairing Wegovy®, the most widely used GLP-1 medication in the world, with WeightWatchers’ best-in-class nutrition and behavioral support program, to demonstrate the clinical and economic value of an integrated care model.
While there are already many trials and studies under way, in the future as Novo N0rdisk works on new GLP1 formulations, it may tap the organized Weight Watchers member pool for participation in new trials and research into drug efficacy or other topics.
Of course, the traditional benefit of weight watchers (a more holistic approach to weight loss) are present – though it's unclear whether that will make a major difference, as people have lost lots of weight with GLP1s because of their pharmacological efficacy primarily.
