WeightWatchers Appoints Dr. Kim Boyd, Launches Menopause Program

NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) – WeightWatchers announced on Tuesday the appointment of Dr. Kim Boyd as its chief medical officer. The company also revealed plans for a new program aimed at assisting women through menopause and beyond, part of its growth strategy after emerging from bankruptcy.

Boyd, a Stanford University graduate, has experience with various consumer health startups. She stated in an interview that WeightWatchers intends to expand its long-standing mission of providing weight management tools to cater to the specific needs of individuals undergoing obesity treatments, including Eli Lilly‘s Zepbound.

According to WeightWatchers, the company’s model of promoting balanced eating and exercise helps subscribers minimize gastrointestinal side effects from medications and lose more weight when using drugs like Wegovy. “We have the foundation, and we will continue to evolve our programming to align with the addition of medications,” Boyd explained.

Tara Comonte, CEO of WeightWatchers, mentioned that this support for members utilizing weight-loss medications is expected to be attractive to health insurers and employers, as they pursue more sustainable management solutions for these expensive treatments.

The upcoming program will provide access to prescription therapies, including hormone replacement therapy, along with behavioral and nutritional support tailored to a significant number of female members aged 40 to 60 years old. WeightWatchers stated more details will be unveiled later this year.

<p“It is a very natural overlap. In the perimenopausal and menopausal phase, up to 70% of women experience weight gain,” Boyd noted. She has previously served as the national medical director at One Medical, now owned by Amazon.com, and led weight-management company Calibrate.

Boyd’s appointment follows the departure of former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Amy Meister nearly a year ago. Since then, WeightWatchers has worked to regain its footing in a competitive market of online weight-management services and has shifted its sales focus towards FDA-approved medications.

WeightWatchers recently partnered with Novo Nordisk to provide Wegovy through its NovoCare pharmacy, marking a strategic departure from offering compounded weight-loss drugs directly to consumers.

According to Comonte, “At the foundation of this is prescribing FDA-approved medications. We only prescribe branded drugs.” A month’s supply of Wegovy typically costs over $1,000, though insurance may lower this cost for some patients.

Chantell Reagan, a senior director at advisory firm Willis Towers Watson, emphasized that WeightWatchers’s approach offers members lifestyle tools beneficial for sustaining weight loss, especially if they discontinue using medications.