Ro's Competitive Edge Tied to Manufacturers

Ro’s edge in GLP-1s is increasingly borrowed from drug makers rather than built entirely in house. The practical advantage is that a patient can come to Ro, get evaluated, and be routed into authentic branded supply through manufacturer backed channels, but that means the strongest part of the offer, drug access, price predictability, and funnel conversion, can be changed by Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly with little warning.1 2 3 4 5

• Novo made that dependence visible in 2025. It opened NovoCare pharmacy access to Hims & Hers, LifeMD, and Ro on April 29, 2025, then cut off Hims & Hers on June 23, 2025 while saying access would continue through select telehealth groups. That shows manufacturer channel decisions can quickly redraw category winners and losers.1 2
• Ro’s GLP-1 growth already appears tied to this manufacturer linked model. Ro’s annualized revenue was estimated at $598M in 2024, up from $360M in 2023, while later research describes Ro competing on supply credibility through NovoCare rather than on the lowest price. In weight loss telehealth, reliable branded inventory is often the product that matters most.3 4 5
• The deeper risk is disintermediation. LillyDirect lets patients have a prescriber send prescriptions straight into Lilly’s own pharmacy flow, and Lilly says its listed telehealth vendors are independent. If manufacturers keep building direct rails to patients, Ro is pushed toward being a care wrapper around someone else’s drug distribution and pricing engine.6 7 8

The next phase of obesity telehealth will reward companies that turn manufacturer access into something stickier than simple drug routing. Ro is best positioned if it can make its care layer, labs, coaching, insurance work, and refill management valuable enough that patients stay even as Novo and Lilly keep tightening control over where branded GLP-1 demand flows.4 6 7 8