Alloy Health, a virtual platform serving midlife women, is expanding its weight care program with two new services: microdosing and Wegovy pills.
Microdosing allows for more individualized dosing for women who cannot tolerate the manufacturer’s dosage for any reason. Wegovy’s tablets introduce the option of daily oral administration of GLP-1 for women who prefer an alternative to injections. The company hopes to continue adding more branded products as they become available, including the Zepbound KwikPen.
These products build on Alloy’s existing weight care program, launched last year, which aims to provide weight care specifically for menopause. This program provides physician-led hormonal expertise along with a personalized care plan designed for midlife women. Alloy is a fully asynchronous text-based provider.
Alloy executives say many women experience weight changes during menopause, but their needs are often not addressed holistically.
“Midlife weight gain has been misunderstood and underappreciated for far too long. This is not a failure of discipline, but rather a predictable outcome of hormonal changes that most medical care has historically overlooked,” co-founder and co-CEO Anne Huhrenwider said in an emailed statement.
“GLP-1 has changed the conversation around weight care, but access alone does not equal treatment,” added co-founder and co-CEO Monica Molenaar. “At midlife, hormones are a central driver of metabolic changes, and without addressing them, care is inherently incomplete. At Alloy, we start by combining menopausal care with physician-directed GLP-1 therapy, personalized dosing, and long-term support to treat weight as part of a broader metabolic and hormonal picture.”
Weight gain in menopausal women is often accompanied by insulin resistance, changes in lipid profiles, and increased systemic inflammation. “That weight gain is causing metabolic problems in women,” Dr. Michelle Monville, Alloy’s clinical director, told Fierce Healthcare. Abnormalities in these markers increase a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease, she added. “We are very aware of how all of these things are connected.”
Montville says menopausal hormone therapy can alleviate some of these changes, but its effectiveness is limited. GLP-1 can help manage these changes and improve metabolic risk at the same time. Alloy advises patients on everything needed for long-term health, including nutrition, exercise, and sleep. “We emphasize how important it is for women to build muscle and maintain muscle for bone health,” Montville said.
Some women are already implementing lifestyle changes, but still need a little help in losing excess weight. Their goal may be to use GLP-1 for one to two years. For others, Montville says, it’s an indefinite obligation, such as people with chronic illness and obesity.
Alloy prefers branded drugs, but they may not be a good fit for some women. For example, let’s say you can’t tolerate a medication or want to try a lower dose. For these patients, Alloy offers the combination semaglutide and tirzepatide. Alloy conducts a clinical evaluation of each patient to determine the patient’s goals and determine whether the brand name or compounded version is more appropriate.
“The FDA is very clear about how compounded drugs should be used, and we’re very mindful of that,” Montville acknowledged, noting the fact that currently the FDA only allows compounded GLP-1 if it’s individualized. “At the end of the day, it’s the conversations that happen between the doctor and the patient that are important, and together they figure out what’s most appropriate.”
Alloy focuses on affordability, with DTC pharmaceutical programs such as LillyDirect and NovoCare. Montville said this is cheaper for patients than buying it at a pharmacy. Even if a patient has insurance, the program can check against the patient’s plan to see if they are covered. “This is a very good option for patients,” Montville said.
When Alloy patients first start receiving GLP-1, the company will check in with them monthly. Once the maintenance dose is reached, Aloy checks in with patients via text or phone call every three months. Alloy’s management is in frequent contact with its contracted physicians to report any concerns they may have regarding the drug.
Alloy’s weight care program costs $99 a month, plus medication costs starting at $70 a month.
“The important thing here is that there is no one approach to health during the midlife transition; we need to think about it holistically,” says Montville.
