Posted on 06/23/2025 10:43:01 AM PDT by Red Badger
Key Points
Novo Nordisk said it is ending its collaboration with Hims & Hers due to concerns about the telehealth company’s sales and promotion of cheaper knock-offs of the weight loss drug Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk in April said it would offer Wegovy through several telehealth companies, such as Hims & Hers, to expand access to the blockbuster injection now that it is no longer in short supply in the U.S.
But Novo Nordisk said Hims & Hers has “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” and accused the telehealth company of “deceptive” marketing that is putting patient safety at risk.
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Novo Nordisk on Monday said it is ending its collaboration with Hims & Hers due to concerns about the telehealth company’s sales and promotion of cheaper knock-offs of the weight loss drug Wegovy.
Shares of Hims & Hers fell roughly 28% on Monday, while Novo Nordisk’s stock fell more than 6%.
Novo Nordisk in April said it would offer Wegovy through several telehealth companies such as Hims & Hers to expand access to the blockbuster injection now that it is no longer in short supply in the U.S.
The end of the Wegovy shortage meant compounding pharmacies were legally restricted from making and selling cheaper, unapproved versions of the drug by May 22 – with rare exceptions. Telehealth companies have said patients may still need personalized compounded versions of Wegovy in situations where it’s medically necessary.
But Novo Nordisk on Monday said Hims & Hers has “failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs” under the “false guise” of personalization. The drugmaker also accused Hims & Hers of “deceptive” marketing that is putting patient safety at risk.
“We expected that the efforts towards compounding personalization would diminish over time. When we didn’t see that, we had to make a choice on behalf of patients,” Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s executive vice president of U.S. operations, told CNBC. “We’ve been firm all along that patient safety is our primary focus.”
“Our expectation was that [Hims & Hers’] business focus would transfer toward real, safe, approved medications,” he said. Moore said Novo Nordisk will not incur any fees from terminating the collaboration, as it was established through a third-party that manages the drugmaker’s direct-to-consumer online pharmacy
In a statement on X, Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said the company is “disappointed to see Novo Nordisk management misleading the public.”
Dudum said in recent weeks, Novo Nordisk’s commercial team has “increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients.” He added Hims & Hers plays a role in protecting the ability of providers and patients to control individual treatment decisions, and “will not compromise the integrity of our platform to appease a third party or preserve a collaboration.”
He said Hims & Hers will continue to offer several treatments, including Wegovy, to allow providers to meet the individual needs of patients.
In a note on Monday, Citi analyst Daniel Grosslight said the end of the collaboration increases Hims & Hers’ legal risk “substantially.” He added that he was surprised the partnership, when initially announced, did not include any efforts to curb the telehealth company’s compounding efforts.
During Food and Drug Administration-declared shortages, pharmacists can legally make compounded versions of brand-name medications. They can also be produced on a case-by-case basis when it’s medically necessary for a patient, such as when they can’t swallow a pill or are allergic to a specific ingredient in a branded drug.
But drugmakers and some health experts have pushed back against the practice, largely because the FDA does not approve compounded drugs.
Novo Nordisk said it will continue offering the branded version of Wegovy through telehealth organizations that “share our commitment to safe and effective medical treatment for patients living with chronic diseases.”
Moore said Novo Nordisk has seen several other mass compounding pharmacies reduce or stop making and selling Wegovy knock-offs. He added that the company will “engage on the legal front” and with the FDA to ensure that illegal compounding diminishes.
In a release on Monday, Novo Nordisk said it conducted an investigation that found the active ingredients used in Wegovy knock-offs sold by telehealth companies and compounded pharmacies are manufactured by foreign suppliers in China. The drugmaker also cited a report from the Brookings Institution in April, which found that a large share of those Chinese suppliers were never inspected by the FDA, and many that were inspected had drug quality assurance violations.
“These medicines that are coming into our country from sources around the world are not even approved in those countries that they originated, and it’s a problem,” Moore said.
lol, i knew it, i did make a very hefty profit on him and her when it popped.
novo nordisk is the one holding all the trump cards, it is a bit pricey, but it looks like a good time to buy more as it is down right now.
unless ozempic is found to kill people, the stock will go up
HIMS is run by a Muslim supporter of Hamas, so lol 😂
I already bought NVO today. Good call.
Simple, save your dollars and reduce calorie intake.
That doesn’t work for everyone.
And walk 3 miles a day...................
BTW, to anyone in the admin lurking, FAERS is harder than hell to use.
I’d agree with Novo Norvisk if they didn’t charge $1200/Mo for Wegovey. If they really cared about patients’ needs, they would charge a reasonable price.
They could cut the price in half and sell twice as much..................
They could, but they won’t. They know that there are enough people out there who will pay, or their insurance will pay a portion, to be able to effectively lose weight. At the risk of offending FReepers who live off of stock profits, novo nordisk is participating in greed and avarice. They try to make it seem like they’re in this for the health of patients, but in the US, it’s all about the money. In other countries, they’re not allowed to overcharge.
Not allowed to overcharge....
That’s an interesting way to put it.
My nurse practitioner tried to get me on Ozempic to lower my A1C (family history of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes). My insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield) wouldn’t cover it. Then she tried to get me on Mounjaro. My insurance wouldn’t cover it. So I started on Metformin recently (it’s cheap, so my insurance *will* cover it) and the bit of weight loss progress that I had been making came to a screeching halt. 🙄
I dug around in my insurance coverage information and found where it said it would not cover a “weight loss” drug…even if losing weight would resolve other health problems. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Never mind that some of these GLP-1 drugs are geared to lowering A1C and the risk of cardiac events. Weight loss for some people is just a bonus.
I considered looking into Hers.com for a compounded GLP-1; guess that’s not going to happen. I sure wish the prices of the drugs would come down. I have read story after story of people whose lives have drastically improved after using them.
They don’t work for all people and some people have had some really nasty side effects................
Correct. I get compounded semaglutide through Ro for $240 a month. Without insurance, tt was the cheapest choice available. It has worked fine for me. Who can afford 1000 a month for fat juice? All I had to do was give up bourbon. An interesting side effect of the drug is that it kills the desire for booze.
Your mileage may vary. It is not without potential harm.
You are right; they definitely don’t work for all people and some people do have terrible side effects. However, of all of the accounts I have read (and I’m in a Reddit Ozempic group so I read them daily), the ones who say it hasn’t worked for them are nearly always talking about the weight loss not happening. I’ve seen very few comment that Ozempic/Wegovy hasn’t improved their A1C and daily glucose readings. Some have been very disappointed that they’ve only lost five or ten pounds after several months on one of the drugs (both are semaglutide), but they happily acknowledge significant improvement in A1C.
Yeah, the side effects can be pretty bad. Many of the users say that they improve drastically after the first month or so on the drug, once the body is acclimated to it. Also, most say the side effects are worse when too much food is consumed at one time. Some are only affected if they eat fried foods, rich foods or other food-specific conditions. They learn quickly what and how much they can generally eat safely (and even then they get some unwelcome surprises from time to time). Some definitely quit taking the GLP-1 drugs before they see much in the way of A1C or weight improvement because the side effects are so bad and they’re not sure they can wait for their bodies to acclimate (others grudgingly stop taking it because they can’t afford to keep paying for it). I was hoping to be able to start Ozempic or Mounjaro during this summer, before I start back to my school job in July, so that I’d have time to get through the worst of the side effects. But, alas…
Oh, I am so sorry for your wife. Maybe I’m thinking of Jardiance, but I know I’ve seen one of the drugs that states explicitly that is not for Type 1 diabetics. I guess that isn’t Ozempic, but I certainly hope her doctor listens to her when she reports these awful side effects.
My older brothers are both Type 1…one diagnosed when he was a toddler in about 1970, and the other just in the last few years, after initially being identified as a Type 2 several years ago. The life-long T1D brother lost his eyesight in the mid-90s, when he was in his 20s, due to diabetic retinopathy. His blood sugar swings are wild. A1C is always bad. He has recently been pressured to use a CGM, which has frustrated him as a blind person. Plus, the readings it gives versus his regular old glucometer are significantly different. I think after this first prescription cycle is up he is going to discontinue the CGM.
Thank you for the information about your wife’s experience with Ozempic. That’s really helpful for everyone to keep in mind when looking at taking it. She has a good advocate in you.
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