*

Company appoints new CMO after nearly a year of vacancy

*

WeightWatchers to provide hormone replacement therapies

later

this year

*

Will provide support to sustain weight loss for patients

on

Wegovy

(Updates paragraph 1 with company statement)

By Amina Niasse

NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - WeightWatchers on Tuesday

named Dr. Kim Boyd as chief medical officer and said it was

planning a new program to help women manage the transition into

menopause and beyond, as part of its growth strategy in emerging

from bankruptcy.

Reuters exclusively reported the appointment earlier in the

day.

Boyd, a Stanford University graduate who has worked with

several consumer health startups, said in an interview

WeightWatchers is building upon its decades-long work providing

weight management tools to also address the specific needs of

people using obesity treatments. That includes Novo Nordisk's

Wegovy and Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) Zepbound.

The company says its model promoting balanced eating and

exercise helps subscribers reduce gastrointestinal side effects

from the medicines and lose more weight on Wegovy.

"We have the foundation, and we will continue to evolve our

programming to show up in a way that matches best with the

addition of medications," Boyd said.

WeightWatchers CEO Tara Comonte said such support for

members using weight-loss drugs should appeal to health insurers

and employers who pay for health benefits as they seek more

sustainable management of the costly medications.

"It's a different business model and these partnerships and

relationships take a much longer period of time than dialing up

some direct to consumer marketing or promotional models,"

Comonte said.

The program for perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause

will include access to prescription treatments such as hormone

replacement therapy, as well as behavioral and nutritional

support for members, a significant proportion of whom are women

ages 40 to 60 years old, WeightWatchers said.

More details will become available later this year, the

company, also known as WW International, said.

"It is a very natural overlap. In the perimenopausal and

menopausal phase, up to 70% of women experience weight gain,"

Boyd said.

CHANGING WEIGHT LOSS MARKET

Boyd previously served as national medical director at One

Medical, a clinical business now owned by Amazon.com ( AMZN ),

and later was chief medical officer at weight-management company

Calibrate.

Her appointment comes nearly a year after previous Chief

Medical Officer Dr. Amy Meister stepped down. In the interim,

WeightWatchers emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after

struggling to compete with other online weight-management

platforms selling cheaper, compounded versions of obesity

treatments, including telehealth companies like Hims & Hers

Health ( HIMS ).

The market for weight-management companies is changing since

the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered an end to sales of

compounded versions of Wegovy in late May. WeightWatchers last

month announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk to sell Wegovy

through the drugmaker's NovoCare pharmacy.

Hims & Hers continues to offer smaller doses of compounded

Wegovy than what is available from Novo, arguing they are

providing a personalized medication that is not subject to the

FDA ban. Industry analysts, however, have questioned whether

that strategy will leave Hims vulnerable to legal challenges.

Hims has said it also plans to expand into testosterone and

menopause treatments as part of its growth strategy in the

coming years.

WeightWatchers has stopped selling compounded weight-loss

drugs, and its partnership with Novo may prove more attractive

to employer-sponsored health plans in the long run, Boyd said.

"At the foundation of this is prescribing FDA-approved

medications," Comonte said. "We only prescribe branded drugs."

A month's supply of Wegovy is listed at over $1,000 per

month, but many people pay less through insurance. Cash-pay

patients can access the treatment for $499 through NovoCare.

"For employers, some of them are finding value in these

vendors like WeightWatchers... that give the members the

lifestyle tools," said Chantell Reagan, a senior director at

advisory firm Willis Towers Watson.

These strategies may help an employee sustain weight loss if

they stop using a drug, she said. "We are looking very closely

at our employers that are using these programs and assessing the

effectiveness."