Novo Nordisk has terminated a collaboration agreement with Hims & Hers, accusing the telehealth company of “failing to adhere to the law” regarding compounded weight loss drug sales.
With the alliance launched only in April, the Danish drugmaker’s move brings a swift end to what was one of the shortest-lived collaborations seen in the pharma industry.
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The loss of Novo’s involvement significantly dented investor confidence in Hims & Hers, plunging shares in the latter by 35% at market close on 23 June.
Hims & Hers’ revenue has been soaring on the back of its compounded glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) sales. Compounded drugs are custom-made and unbranded medications that contain the same active ingredient as a marketed drug.
A shortage of a commercially available drug is one of the criteria that allows compounded production, according to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) legislation. Hims & Hers was one of several telehealth companies offering compounded drugs that flourished during this time.
Novo Nordisk partnered with Hims & Hers to offer its blockbuster GLP-1RA Wegovy (semaglutide) at a discounted price on the Hims & Hers platform, distributed via the pharma’s online pharmacy NovoCare. The move was a coy strategy to gain back market revenue lost to surging use of compounded drugs, having slashed its 2025 outlook due to headwinds from the telehealth sector.
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By GlobalDataThe FDA declared the Wegovy shortage over in April, however, signalling a boost to Novo Nordisk’s market prospects. The agency mandated that outsourcing facilities – which comprise Hims & Hers – cease compounded production by 22 May. Efforts by an outsourcing facility trade body to block this were unsuccessful.
“Over one month into the collaboration, Hims & Hers Health has failed to adhere to the law, which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs under the false guise of ‘personalisation’ and is disseminating deceptive marketing that puts patient safety at risk,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement.
Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said Novo Nordisk is “misleading the public.”
In a post on X, Dudum said: “We refuse to be strong-armed by any pharmaceutical company’s anticompetitive demands that infringe on the independent decision-making of providers and limit patient choice.”
Since the FDA announced the deadlines in April, Hims & Hers has been steadfast in maintaining that it would continue to offer compounded drugs. Similar to other telehealth companies such as Mochi Health, it is leveraging legislative leeway that allows dose and formulation tailoring. This ‘personalised’ treatment approach, it believes, permits continued sale of compounded GLP-1RAs.
Compounded GLP-1RAs are significantly cheaper than branded alternatives such as Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide). Despite Novo and Lilly’s products no longer being in short supply, many patients who turned to compounded drugs have stayed on those subscription models due to the lower costs.
Dudum said that his company would: “We will continue to offer access to a range of treatments, including Wegovy, to ensure providers can serve the individual needs of patients.”
It is unclear what legal path Novo Nordisk will take. Dave Moore, its executive vice president of US operations, said that it “will continue to take action” on companies engaging in “illegal sham compounding”.
The partnership had effectively heralded a truce between the two companies, having previously sparred in the advertising arena.
Hims & Hers ruffled feathers in the industry when it aired a commercial during the Super Bowl that described obesity as “America’s deadliest epidemic”. The company was promoting its weight loss products, including compounded GLP-1RA medications, as a cheaper alternative to Wegovy and Mounjaro.
In response, Novo Nordisk pushed an ad called “Check Before You Inject”. A company spokesperson said this was in “direct response” to the Hims & Hers’ Super Bowl commercial.
