With the rising popularity of GLP-1 medications, employers have begun requiring nutritional counseling and coaching to combat how much employees spend on weight loss. It costs more to have diabetes, and weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound are no different.

Seeing the Value of Programs Like Virta Health

Before these medications went mainstream, Virta Health founder and CEO Sami Inkinen approached employers about using his company’s nutrition-oriented digital diabetes program to promote obesity-related weight loss. At the time, no one was interested, but employers sought Virta Health out when costs started to climb.

“Our goal is not to drive the maximum number of GLP-1 prescriptions,” Inkinen stated. “We are the telemedicine company of choice for many employers to responsibly use these drugs, and then also get members off of these drugs and sustain the weight loss nutritionally.”

A Promising Approach to Weight Loss

Virta Health’s nutritional approach was tested in a peer-reviewed study from 2024, and promising results were found. According to the study, patients who participated in Virta Health’s nutrition counseling programs could maintain weight loss one year after they stopped using GLP-1 medications. 

Less than 10% of the company’s clients use medication, favoring nutritional counseling. Despite this, Virta Health helps them lose an average of 13% of their body weight within one year.

“Quite frankly,” Inkinen said, “despite the message that maybe the pharma companies are pushing, nobody really wants to be on these drugs forever, if you get the choice and the tools.”

Rising Cost of Medication

A Business Group on Health survey stated that GLP-1 medications are a top driver of employer plan drug costs. Many employers consider this metric unsustainable and are turning to companies like Virta Health, which offers promising nutrition counseling and coaching services.

“Most employers want their plan members to have access to weight-management medication options, such as GLP-1s, however, they also want to ensure that it’s clinically appropriate and accompanied by the medical and lifestyle modification,” said the vice president of purchaser engagement with Purchaser Business Group on Health Randa Deaton. “[But] we’ve seen that PBMs and drug manufacturers have been reducing their rebates when employers are requiring a lifestyle management intervention as part of the drug criteria.”

A Growing Business Model

Drug manufacturers are making it harder for employers to offer GLP-1 medication and require lifestyle intervention. They have to consider which is best for supporting workers and their families. Many of them feel that programs like Virta Health will have the most positive impact on their employees. As such, the GLP-1 growth dynamic has pushed the Virta Health startup far enough that it could go public this year—the company was valued at $2 billion in 2021.

A competitor to Virta Health, Omada Health, has also seen a significant increase in attention toward its weight loss management program. When the company partnered with Cigna, program enrollment spiked from 2 million in the second quarter of 2024 to 8 million in the third.

“The market continues to absorb the challenges of affordability [of GLP-1 drugs],” Cigna CEO David Cordani stated. “Clients are observing, and physicians are observing the start-and-stop dynamic that is transpiring for some patients, which also doesn’t generate the desired or intended outcome.”

An Investment in Long-Term Health

The alternative approaches presented by Virta Health and Omada Health may help limit the indefinite use of GLP-1 medications among employees needing weight loss solutions. As costs for these drugs and other diabetes medications continue to rise, sustainable weight loss programs may be the right investment for employers looking to keep employees healthy for the long term.

Inkinen, for one, is confident in Virta Health’s offerings and the company’s continued growth. He concluded, “If you have a thing that’s working, it is 1,000 times easier to scale your thing, your team, your culture.”