Why Ivy Rx, and why Hume
Ivy Rx's numbers are hard to wave away. The headline price starts at $77 a month, and its own site shows 200,000+ members and a 4.7 rating from 7,000+ reviews. A physician reviews your intake the same day, and you don't need labwork. You can also pick semaglutide or tirzepatide. If you want a prescription with little fuss, it's a strong offer.
With HumeCare+ you take the GLP-1 by mouth, so there's no needle involved. Hume builds glycine, B12 and B6 into the protocol and says they help protect your muscle and reduce side effects. A 3D body-composition scan every week tracks your fat and muscle separately. The program is on an introductory offer from $7 a day. Ivy Rx's $77, meanwhile, is its monthly rate on a 12-month semaglutide plan; month to month, semaglutide costs $177. Even so, HumeCare+'s $7 a day comes to more than either figure. I set out to see whether what HumeCare+ adds is worth the extra cost.
So I compared what you'd live with week to week: how the medication gets into your body, what each program measures besides your weight, who answers your questions, and whether either offers a results guarantee.
At a glance: HumeCare+ vs. Ivy Rx
The two programs next to each other, before the detail.
| Spec | HumeCare+ | Ivy Rx |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From $7/day (introductory offer) | Semaglutide $77/mo on a 12-month plan, $177 month to month |
| How You Take It | Oral GLP-1, no injections | Weekly self-injection |
| What's Included | GLP-1 + glycine, B12 and B6 + weekly 3D scans + app | Compounded GLP-1 (B12 added to semaglutide) + provider messaging + app |
| Fat Loss | 60% higher than standard GLP-1 programs (Hume's data) | No fat-loss figure published |
| Muscle Preserved | 80% more preserved (Hume's data) | Not tracked or addressed |
| Body Composition Tracking | Weekly 3D scan, fat and muscle tracked separately | Not offered |
| Guarantee | 90-day results guarantee (conditions apply) | None; its refund policy says it can't accept returns |
| Support | USA clinician, side-effect support anytime, video visits | Same-day review, unlimited provider messaging |
| Best For | Losing weight without a needle, with muscle tracked | The lowest monthly rate, if you commit to a long plan |
Green marks the better pick in each row.
Reason 1: HumeCare+ Shows You Whether You're Losing Fat or Muscle
I'll start with the reason that decided it for me. A scale gives you one number. It says your weight went down and stops there, and you never find out whether the drop was fat or muscle. With a GLP-1, that's the part I'd most want to know. So I went through what each program measures after you start, and how often.
- Every week, a 3D scan of your body composition tracks fat and muscle (lean mass) as separate readings
- You get full visibility of what's changing week to week, which Hume says typical GLP-1 programs leave you blind to
- Hume's own comparison puts fat loss 60% higher on HumeCare+ than on a typical GLP-1 program (results vary)
- The same comparison reports 80% more muscle preserved than on a typical program, and your scan shows how yours is holding up
- A flat week on the scale is easier to sit through when the scan shows you what fat and muscle did underneath it
- You check in with a provider every month before each refill ships
- Its own survey says 82.6% of new customers report weight loss
- That figure is self-reported at the first check-in, so it can't show how much of the loss was fat or muscle
- No body-composition scan, and nothing that tracks muscle or lean mass, from what I read on its site
- Without a scan, you'd have no clear way to tell whether you're keeping your muscle while the weight drops
I'd want the scan. HumeCare+ tracks fat and muscle separately every week, and each scan tells you which one moved. Ivy Rx has you check in with a provider every month, and 82.6% of its new customers report weight loss at the first check-in, per its own survey. Both come down to weight. The 60% and 80% numbers are Hume's, from its comparison with typical programs, so read them as Hume's claims (results vary) and let the scan show you where you land. Ivy Rx has nothing like it, which is why this reason goes to HumeCare+.
Reason 2: HumeCare+ Gives You Glycine, B12 and B6 With the GLP-1
Both programs start with a short online assessment, and in both a clinician decides whether you get a prescription. Then I lined up what each one puts around the medication.
- A physician-guided oral GLP-1 protocol that includes glycine, B12 and B6
- Per Hume, the three add-ins help protect your muscle and ease side effects, two things I'd want handled from the start
- Hume calibrates the dose to your data and body type, then raises it gradually over the first few months
- One free Hume app holds your daily plan, logs your food and tracks your medication
- The plan is tailored to you and comes with nutrition, hydration and post-medication guidance
- Compounded semaglutide with B12 added, or compounded tirzepatide, after a 5-minute assessment and a same-day physician review. You don't need labwork
- Picking between two drugs is a real advantage. Its product page also lists the lab tests its medication passes
- Neither of its drugs comes with glycine or B6 that I could find
- Beyond provider messaging, I saw no coaching or nutrition program mentioned
- Its site says nothing about protecting muscle, one of the two reasons Hume gives for its glycine, B12 and B6
On choice of drug, Ivy Rx wins outright. You can pick semaglutide or tirzepatide, and a physician reviews your intake the same day without any labwork. I also liked that it publishes the lab tests its medication passes. If you've already settled on a drug, that's a quick way in. HumeCare+ gives you one oral GLP-1 protocol and builds more around it, starting with glycine, B12 and B6, plus a dose calibrated to your data and body type. Ivy Rx adds B12 to its semaglutide, and I found no glycine or B6 in either drug. For what surrounds the drug, HumeCare+ takes Reason 2.
Reason 3: HumeCare+ Means You Never Have to Give Yourself a Shot
You'd notice this one in your first week. Ivy Rx's GLP-1 is a once-a-week self-injection (its semaglutide comes in a vial), and HumeCare+'s is taken by mouth. I read up on what each routine involves, then asked myself which one I'd still be keeping up months from now.
- You take the GLP-1 by mouth for the whole protocol, start to finish
- You won't be drawing doses from a vial or keeping syringes and needles in the house
- Side-effect support anytime, plus a USA clinician on your team for the questions that come up early on
- It starts with a free 1-minute online assessment. A clinician then decides whether to prescribe
- The obvious pick if the needle is the reason you haven't started a GLP-1 yet
- A once-weekly shot suits plenty of people, and if needles don't bother you, it's a routine you'll hardly think about
- Support is strong here too: its help center promises unlimited messaging with providers
- Its semaglutide guide has you draw each dose from a vial
- Every week means a syringe, a needle and alcohol pads. You give the shot yourself
- I didn't find an oral GLP-1 for sale anywhere on its site, so the needle comes with the program
A lot of people take a weekly shot in stride, and if you're one of them, this reason won't sway you. Support comes out about even: Ivy Rx promises unlimited messaging with providers, and HumeCare+ gives you a USA clinician on your team plus side-effect support anytime. That leaves the needle. With HumeCare+ there's no vial or needle anywhere in your week. Hume's own timeline says it can take 8 to 9 weeks to feel the full effect, so give it time. If you've put off a GLP-1 because you didn't want to inject yourself every week, HumeCare+ is the one I'd point you to.
Reason 4: HumeCare+ Publishes a 10-Month Member Average
Both programs tell you up front that the early weeks are slow, so I skipped ahead to the later months and looked for two answers on each site: what the company expects by month ten, and whose results that expectation rests on.
- Hume's timeline puts months 0 to 3 at 5 to 10% of body weight, with the dose going up gradually; it can take 8 to 9 weeks to feel the full effect
- For months 3 to 6 the timeline says 10 to 20%, with the optimal dose in place and side effects less likely as your body gets used to it
- Months 6 to 12+ are about lasting weight loss: less hunger and fewer cravings give you room to form habits that stop the weight creeping back
- Hume says HumeCare+ members lose 21.5% of body weight on average in 10 months, from its internal analysis of 6,846 members (individual results vary)
- With ranges published for the first two phases, you can check your own numbers against Hume's at month three and month six
- Ivy Rx publishes a timeline guide: a gradual first month, steady progress in weeks 5 to 20, likely near your target after week 20
- The trial figures it quotes go up to about 15% on semaglutide with diet and exercise, 20% on higher-dose tirzepatide
- Its own results stat comes from an internal survey at the first check-in, where 82.6% of new customers report weight loss
- Beyond that survey, the percentages it quotes on results come from drug trials
- It doesn't publish an average weight loss for its own members, at month ten or at any other point
Credit to Ivy Rx for publishing a timeline and citing trial data for both of its drugs. The trials tell you what the drugs did for study participants, and Ivy Rx's own results stat comes from the first check-in. Hume publishes an average for its own members: 21.5% of body weight in 10 months, from its internal analysis of 6,846 people, with a phase-by-phase plan beside it. Individual results vary, as Hume notes. It's also the only long-range number here that describes people on the program you'd be paying for, and if you're planning around month ten, it's the one I'd want.
Reason 5: HumeCare+ Looks After Your Muscle and Measures It
Hume puts a number on the muscle question: on a typical GLP-1 program, as much as 50% of what comes off can be muscle. Nobody signs up for a GLP-1 hoping to lose muscle, so I checked how each program tries to hold on to it, and whether either one tracks it.
- Glycine, B12 and B6 come with the protocol; Hume includes them to protect muscle and ease side effects
- By Hume's own comparison data, HumeCare+ preserves 80% more muscle than a typical GLP-1 program
- In Hume's data, metabolic age reverses on HumeCare+ and goes up on a typical GLP-1 program
- You see your own muscle figure every week on the 3D scan, which tracks fat and muscle separately
- Hume's comparison also puts fat loss 60% higher than on a typical GLP-1 program. By its numbers, you keep more muscle and lose more fat
- Ivy Rx adds B12 to its semaglutide, and B12 is one of the three add-ins in Hume's protocol too
- Neither of its drugs comes with glycine or B6, the other two add-ins in Hume's protocol
- I didn't find a single line on its site about keeping your muscle while the weight comes off
- With no body-composition or lean-mass tracking, the program can't tell you whether the pounds you lost were fat or muscle
- It doesn't mention coaching or a nutrition program either. Keeping muscle is mostly up to you
The 80% figure and the metabolic-age result come from Hume's own data. The weekly scan can't confirm those figures for you, but it shows early on whether your own muscle is holding. Ivy Rx says nothing about muscle and doesn't track it, and neither of its drugs lists glycine or B6. With Hume putting muscle at up to half of what a typical GLP-1 program takes off, I'd rather be on the program that measures it.
Reason 6: HumeCare+ Comes With a 90-Day Results Guarantee
You pay for a GLP-1 program well before you know how your body will take to the medication. So I went through the fine print on both sides looking for one answer: what happens if you do everything asked of you and the weight still doesn't come off?
- A 90-day results guarantee, with eligibility and adherence conditions set out in Hume's terms
- It covers eligible first-time members who finish the participation requirements in their first 90 days; prior GLP-1 use rules you out
- HSA/FSA accepted, so you can pay with pre-tax health savings
- Cancel anytime, though cancelling in the first 90 days ends the guarantee
- Treatment is delivered discreetly and free the next day, and HumeCare+ is rated 4.7 out of 5 from 2,918 reviews
- No results guarantee anywhere I looked, and I read its refund policy and its terms
- Its refund policy says it is "unable to accept returns," so once the medication has shipped, you can't send it back, even if the program turns out to be wrong for you
- In fairness, Ivy Rx says there are no long-term contracts or cancellation fees
- Its terms let you request a refund within 15 days of an order, so ask inside that window
- Scale is on its side, with 200,000+ members, and so is the lower advertised monthly rate
A guarantee only helps if you qualify for it, so read Hume's conditions before you count on this one. If you're new to GLP-1s and ready to follow the program for 90 days, HumeCare+ gives you something to fall back on if the weight doesn't come off. Ivy Rx has nothing like that, and its refund rules are tight. To its credit, Ivy Rx says it has no cancellation fees or long-term contracts. If you've been on a GLP-1 before, this reason doesn't apply to you, and the other five matter more.
What you're really signing up for
Ivy Rx prices by plan length. Semaglutide is $77 a month on a 12-month plan, $97 on a 6-month plan, $117 on a 3-month plan and $177 month to month. Tirzepatide is $157 to $277 a month. Medication is included and the consultation is free. The price holds at every dose, though its terms let it raise the fee at any time. HumeCare+ has a limited-time introductory offer from $7 a day and publishes no ongoing price. Refills are automatic and you can cancel anytime. Hume's terms add a clinical consultation fee too, with no amount published.
Ivy Rx wins on advertised price, and I'm not going to dress that up. At $7 a day, HumeCare+'s introductory offer comes to more than Ivy Rx charges for semaglutide on any plan, month to month included, and that's before Hume's clinical consultation fee. The extra gets you a GLP-1 you take by mouth, glycine, B12 and B6 built into the protocol, a weekly 3D scan that shows fat and muscle separately, and a 90-day results guarantee (eligibility and adherence conditions apply). I'd pay the difference for those four things. If all you want is the medication at the lowest monthly rate, Ivy Rx is the better buy.
What you get for the money
Each card below shows the price and what it pays for, taken from the company's own site and fine print. Ivy Rx gets seven check marks, all earned.
- ✅ A physician-guided protocol where the GLP-1 is taken by mouth, with glycine, B12 and B6 built in to protect muscle and ease side effects
- ✅ A weekly 3D body-composition scan that tracks fat and lean mass separately, on top of your weight
- ✅ 80% more muscle preserved and 60% higher fat loss than typical GLP-1 programs, by Hume's own comparison data
- ✅ Members lose 21.5% of body weight on average in 10 months, per Hume (results vary)
- ✅ A USA clinician on your team, access to weight loss specialists, and side-effect support anytime
- ✅ Your dose is calibrated to your body type and data, and it goes up gradually
- ✅ A 90-day results guarantee for first-time members; eligibility and adherence conditions apply
- ✅ Delivered free, next day
- ✅ Video visits with a provider, plus a free app for your daily plan and food log
- ✅ 4.7 out of 5 from 2,918 reviews; trusted by 20,000+ Americans
- ✅ 200,000+ members, rated 4.7 from 7,000+ reviews on its site
- ✅ Same-day physician review, and you don't need labwork
- ✅ Your choice of compounded semaglutide, with B12 added, or compounded tirzepatide
- ✅ Free consultation, with the medication included in the monthly price
- ✅ Its help center promises unlimited messaging with providers
- ✅ Free 2-day shipping in temperature-controlled packaging
- ✅ Lists passed potency, sterility, endotoxin and pH tests
- ❌ Doesn't track body composition or say anything about protecting muscle
- ❌ No results guarantee of any kind, and its refund policy says it can't take returns
- ❌ A weekly self-injection; the semaglutide is drawn from a vial with a syringe
Ivy Rx makes sense if a weekly shot doesn't bother you and the monthly number decides things. It has the lower advertised rate and lets you choose semaglutide or tirzepatide. Starting is quick, with a same-day review and no labs, and it's big: 200,000+ members, by its own count. If you're buying on price first, I'd send you there without hesitation. HumeCare+ is for people who would prefer to skip needles altogether, or who want to see how much of what comes off is fat and how much is muscle. The weekly 3D scan shows that, and the protocol adds glycine, B12 and B6 to protect muscle. First-time members also get a 90-day results guarantee (eligibility and adherence conditions apply). You'll pay more than Ivy Rx's semaglutide rates, plus a consultation fee. I think it's worth it, and HumeCare+ is my pick.