Omada Health Shares Soar After IPO as GLP-1 Drugs Fuel Interest — Update

By Katherine HamiltonOmada Health shares jumped after the company made its public-market debut, propelled by Americans' renewed focus on how weight affects physical health.Shares of the virtual healthcare platform climbed 35% to $25 on Friday, at one point hitting a high of $28, above the initial offering price of $19. The price gives it a market valuation of around $1.4 billion.The gains are a sign investors are willing to invest in newly public companies after a volatile stock market pushed some companies like payments platform Klarna to delay its IPO filing. Stablecoin issuer Circle opened on Thursday at $69, more than double its offering price, and was recently trading at $119.15. Hinge Health, another digital health company, opened in May at $39 after offering a $32 price.Omada is trading publicly after 14 years of providing support to patients with weight-related chronic illnesses. Leadership sees the current moment as the perfect time for an IPO, as GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have sparked renewed focus on health problems that can stem from obesity, President Wei-Li Shao said."We're entering this unique moment in time where there's a convergence between what we've been working on for over a decade, and then also what society is increasingly caring about," Shao said.GLP-1s are expected to be a significant tailwind as more employers are rolling out reimbursement plans for the drugs, Chief Executive Sean Duffy said. Omada, which signs contracts with employers to offer as a benefit to their workers, aims to be a complementary service that helps patients navigate taking GLP-1s."What we aim to do alongside GLPs is support you with the quality side because GLPs just do quantity," Duffy said.Omada's services are designed to help patients lose more weight while taking GLP-1s, mitigate side effects like muscle loss, and keep the weight off if they decide to stop taking the medication. The GLP-1 complementary program has been popular so far, Duffy said, and launched with two of the three largest pharmacy benefit managers, which offer Omada's services to employers.Americans are focused on weight-related health issues right now, but the need for better chronic-disease care is a longstanding problem in the U.S., Duffy said. He dropped out of Harvard Medical School in 2011 after coming to the realization people with chronic illnesses needed more constant care than the system provided."You've got, like, one to two visits per year with your doctor, and that's where all care occurs," Duffy said. "That doesn't cut it for chronic disease."Omada offers personalized care from virtual coaches that walk patients through questions about diet and medication to fill in the gaps between in-person primary care visits. It also tracks biometric indicators such as weight, blood pressure and glucose levels to keep patients on track with their goals.It recently added artificial intelligence elements, including a feature where patients can take a picture of their meal and ask an AI agent about its nutritional components.More than 2,000 employers in the U.S. use Omada and about 679,000 patients are active in its programs. Sales grew 38% to $169.8 million in 2024.Write to Katherine Hamilton at [email protected]