Healthify shifts gears to incorporate weight-loss drugs, cash in on anti-obesity boom
The company is increasing its offerings to incorporate GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro – used to treat type 2 diabetes and, in some cases, obesity – and expects revenue from its GLP-1 companion programmes to exceed Healthify's main revenue in three to four years, Tushar Vashisht, co-founder and CEO, told
Mint
in an interview.
The healthtech firm, which started out as a calorie and nutrition-tracking app, expects demand for weight-loss drugs to surge in India.
'Adoption of the drugs will happen very rapidly as prices come down. What we are hopeful to do is to pioneer the companion solution," said Vashisht, acknowledging that immediate adoption may be slow. 'Eventually, I see a world where every hospital will have a medical weight-loss programme, but one thing common is that everybody will need lifestyle support."
The company has rolled out offerings that combine GLP-1 drugs (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) with lifestyle coaching as well as lifestyle coaching for those who are already taking the medicines. It has tied up with online pharmacy Tata 1mg, which will offer the medicines and diagnostic services.
Healthify's three-month programme includes 12 doses of Mounjaro as well as a nutritionist, trainer and dietician, and a GI kit, and costs
₹
65,000. This includes tracking key metrics on the Healthify app. The six-month programme costs
₹
80,000 and for a year, it is
₹
1 lakh, according to the platform's website.
The startup recorded its first profitable quarter in India in January-March and hopes to maintain the momentum this year.
'The idea is to continue to stay profitable. We're excited about this fiscal year in India being our first which is going to be profitable," Vashisht said, adding that the company is aiming for a 20% year-on-year revenue growth. 'GLP-1 is one of the levers to get that."
Healthify wants to address two key issues with weight-loss drugs: the side-effects that affect one's gastrointestinal system when taking GLP-1 medicines and the tendency of a majority of Ozempic or Mounjaro users to regain weight once they stop the drugs, requiring lifestyle interventions to maintain the weight loss.
Healthify entered the US market last year and plans to scale up its presence there this year.
'We've had good exposure to what's happening in the US… what we saw is that 20% of North American adults have tried [GLP-1s] already. And it has made a very significant shift in the way weight management is carried out," Vashisht said.
Indeed, dialogue around weight loss has shifted significantly in countries such as the US, where these drugs have been available for some years.
Traditional weight-loss players like gyms, calorie-tracking apps and wellness supplements need to revamp and adapt to the changing conversation or risk becoming obsolete,
Mint
reported earlier.
US wellness giant WeightWatchers, which was reportedly gearing up to file for bankruptcy, announced a partnership with Eli Lilly on Tuesday to provide easier access to Lilly's weight loss drug Zepbound.
'At the platform level, apps may need to integrate GLP-1 drug tracking. New KPIs (key performance indicators) will come over now," Kiran Mahasuar, assistant professor of strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship area at IMT Ghaziabad, told
Mint
. 'You will have to look at lean mass retention, satiety scores… now the dominant focus is on calorie deficit, which will shift to nutrient density tracking."
Awareness and demand for weight loss solutions are also shifting in India, the country with the world's third-largest obese population. Eli Lilly launched its weight-loss drug Mounjaro in India in March, priced at
₹
17,500 monthly for a 5 mg dose. Novo Nordisk will start selling its weight-loss drug Wegovy in India this year at competitive pricing, the company said.
Indian generic drugmakers Cipla Ltd, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, Lupin Ltd, Natco Pharma Ltd, Mankind Pharma Ltd, and Biocon Ltd are gearing up to introduce copies of semaglutide – an anti-diabetic and anti-obesity medication – in the market. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, India's largest drugmaker, is working on its own GLP-1 drug.
Globally, the GLP-1 market is expected to grow to $100 billion by 2030. In India, patients started using drugs like Mounjaro even before they were launched in the country, procuring them from overseas through the grey market. This market reportedly doubled in size to $3.6 billion in 2024 for patients with diabetes, according to a July 2024 report in the
British Medical Journal
.
The current pricing of the drugs, as well as allied programmes, makes them inaccessible for a large section of India's population. However, the drug prices are expected to come down, which will also lower prices for platforms like Healthify, Vashisht said.
The startup, which has boosted its AI play in the past few quarters, will start integrating more AI functions into the GLP-1 tracking and companion offerings.
The buzz around these drugs is also driving more awareness around weight loss for those who aren't eligible to be prescribed drugs or can't afford them.
'There is a clear trend shift there towards better engagement and usage," Vashisht said. 'Even the non-GLP-1 usage of tools like nutrition tracking is going to go up significantly."
The platform plans to launch its GLP-1 companion programme in the US in the next few months and scale it up there. Healthify is exploring partnerships with top hospital chains in India for a B2B2C setup. Other startups such as Elevate Now also offer doctor-led weight-management services, which combine GLP-1s with nutrition and coaching.
'The competition here will also go up in the next few months," Vashisht said.
However, Healthify is banking on its talent offerings – including coaches from the US, its doctor-led platform and brand value to hold its position, said Vashisht.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Dr Lal Pathlabs declares board meeting date to announce Q1 results 2025, dividend
Healthcare service provider Dr Lal Pathlabs announced, on Thursday, that board will meet on July 31 to announce the financial results for the quarter ending on June 30, 2025. Dr Lal Pathlabs share price was trading 2.58 per cent up at ₹ 3,095 apiece on Thursday. The stock opened at ₹ 3,017.20 in early morning session, as compared to previous close of ₹ 3,017.20. The healthcare stock has ascended over 13 per cent in a month and nearly 9 per cent in six months. The company also informed the exchanges that the board will also consider recommending interim dividend if any along with the first quarter results. ' This is to inform you that a meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled to be held on Thursday, July 31, 2025 to inter-alia consider and approve the Un-audited (Standalone & Consolidated) Financial Results of the Company for the Quarter ended June 30, 2025 and to consider recommending Interim Dividend, if any, on the Equity Shares of the Company for the Financial Year 2025-26,' the company said in an exchange filing dated July 24. It also said that the trading window for the securities of the company is closed and shall re-open after 48 hours from the declaration of the aforesaid Financial Results. ' In continuation to our letter dated June 26, 2025 and in line with the provisions of the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 and Company's code for Prevention of Insider Trading, the Trading Window for dealing in Securities of the Company is closed and shall re-open after 48 hours from the declaration of the aforesaid Financial Results,' it added. Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
17 hours ago
- Business Standard
Dr Reddy's to launch obesity drug in 87 nations starting next year: CEO
Dr Reddy's Laboratories plans to launch a cheaper copycat version of Novo Nordisk's blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy in 87 countries next year, the Indian drugmaker's CEO, Erez Israeli, said on Wednesday. The plan for launch of generic semaglutide, active ingredient of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic, comes as drugmakers race to grab a share of the global obesity drug market which is expected to generate around $150 billion in sales by the early 2030s. The company initially plans to launch the generic version in Canada, India, Brazil, Turkey and other emerging markets, subject to patent expiry, Israeli said at a press conference. "U.S. and Europe will open later," he added. Dr Reddy's has filed relevant regulatory applications in all the countries it is planning to launch the generic version in, Israeli said. Semaglutide will go off patent in India in March next year. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
17 hours ago
- Mint
Now cleanliness at hospitals to be an important criteria for quality certification
New Delhi: Hospitals will be checked for standards of cleanliness and hygiene from now on before they are granted National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) certification, said an official aware of the matter and a letter seen by Mint. Government funding for states and union territories is conditional on their health facilities getting the necessary NQAS certification—a set of standards for assessing and certifying the quality of public health facilities in India. The development comes against the backdrop of growing incidence of hospital infections. Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) pose a significant risk, impacting patient health and healthcare costs. In India, a 2022 Lancet report indicated a rate of 1.73 HAI cases per 1,000 patient days. This represents a slight increase from the 1.61 cases per 1,000 patient days reported in 2021. This strategic linkage uses Kayakalp to directly drive facilities towards achieving and maintaining high NQAS quality benchmarks, contributing to the "Ease of Living" for citizens. This will motivate public health facilities to achieve higher standards of hygiene, sanitation, waste management and overall upkeep, with a national goal for all facilities to attain NQAS certification by December 2026. A senior official in a communication to the State/UT government emphasized the health ministry's priority on quality certification for healthcare facilities for improving health indicators and achieving NQAS certification. According to the health ministry's communication dated 7 July 2025, seen by Mint, the new policy introduces a crucial change to the Kayakalp scheme. Previously, incentives were provided for Kayakalp (cleanliness and hygiene) performance and also upon achieving National level NQAS certification. The letter stated that now, facilities will only receive Kayakalp incentives if they apply for state-level NQAS certification within three months of receiving their Kayakalp results in the same financial year. This ensures a direct pathway from foundational improvements to formal quality recognition. Furthermore, to encourage progression from state to national certification, the union health ministry has decided that states can claim 25% of the national certification incentive once a facility achieves state-level NQAS certification. This partial incentive release is based on several strict criteria, i.e. the State Quality Assurance Committee is satisfied that the state certification has been conducted as per the protocol defined by the National Health System Resource Centre (NHSRC). 'The overall score of the facility in state certification is 80% and the score against each standard is 70%. There are no conditional requirements or pending compliances. The facility has applied for the NQAS certification within two months of getting the state certification. The remaining 75% of the incentive will be claimed after national certification is achieved," the letter said. Notably, out of 1.75 lakh (175,000) health facilities targeted for quality certification by next year, only 22,787 had achieved NQAS certification by December of last year. According to a Lancet report from 2018, India could potentially save a significant number of lives by improving healthcare quality. The study indicated that about 1.6 million deaths each year in the country are linked to substandard care, and that providing quality healthcare could prevent three out of five of these fatalities. There haven't been any newer studies in India on this specific issue since then. 'Cleanliness and quality are not luxuries in healthcare—they are fundamental rights of every patient. The Government of India's move to integrate Kayakalp with the NQAS is a vital step toward institutionalizing a culture of excellence in public health facilities. Certification under NQAS not only ensures better infection control, hygiene and patient safety but also builds public trust and staff morale. Having worked closely with accreditation systems and quality frameworks (NABH , CAHO and QCI) in India, I believe this structured and incentivized approach will significantly uplift standards of care across the country—especially when implemented with the full engagement of healthcare providers and state leadership. Clean, safe and quality-assured hospitals are the cornerstone of a healthier, more resilient India," said Dr. Alexander Thomas, founder and patron, Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI) and Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI). Queries sent to the health ministry spokesperson remained unanswered.
