Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk have officially laid down their swords. After a longstanding public feud, the two companies have come to an agreement that will see Novo’s branded GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes meds sold through Hims’ telehealth platform.
Later this month, Hims will begin selling multiple doses of both Novo’s injectable Ozempic and Wegovy, plus the newly launched Wegovy pill to U.S. patients at the “same affordable self-pay prices as other telehealth platforms,” Novo announced on Monday.
At the same time, the telehealth company will stop promoting its roster of compounded GLP-1 medications, giving its existing patients the chance to transition to a branded version in consultation with a healthcare provider.
By “aligning its domestic and international models in weight loss,” Hims believes it is set to become the “largest global consumer health platform for access to more affordable, approved medications,” the company said of the deal in a March 9 press release.
In his company's release, Novo CEO Mike Doustdar dubbed the Hims agreement a “meaningful win” for patients.
“By expanding access through leading telehealth providers and digital care platforms, we are helping to connect more people with our FDA-approved medicines, which have been evaluated for safety and efficacy,” Doustdar said. “We all want better health."
He continued: "Our goal is simple: ensure that every patient who can benefit from our medicines has the opportunity to access them, wherever they choose to receive care.”
Hims, meanwhile, is “excited to have a great partner in Novo Nordisk as we work to create a new model that works for everyday people,” co-founder Andrew Dudum noted in his company's announcement.
The new duo hopes to collaborate on future products as well, Hims said, with the aim of “further increasing the range of innovative treatments from which providers can choose on the platform.” For now, Hims will allow access to compounded GLP-1s for what it anticipates to be a “limited set” of patients whose needs cannot be met by the array of branded products.
With Novo steadily losing its obesity sales edge to rival Eli Lilly, the agreement could “significantly boost” its prescription volume with new access to Hims’ 2.5 million subscribers, eMarketer healthcare analyst Rajiv Leventhal pointed out in a note to clients.
“Both companies badly needed this, with stock prices down more than 50% over the past year,” Leventhal said. "There’s no guarantee the tie-up will go smoothly or last for the long haul. But for now, it’s a necessary union for two companies with little other choice.”
Hims has been a persistent thorn in Novo’s side, representing one of the more public-facing companies to capitalize on the compounded GLP-1 boom sparked by shortages early in the launches of Novo and Lilly's metabolic drugs. While Novo and Lilly's GLP-1s for diabetes and obesity are no longer in shortage, the broader industry of compounded weight-loss drugs has been difficult to snuff out in the U.S., prompting repeat legal action and safety warnings from Novo and Lilly.
For its part, Hims previously ran its own ads taking shots at branded GLP-1 drug pricing practices. Novo has made several recent moves to knock down the list and cash pay prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, and it recently debuted its Wegovy pill at a starting price of $149 per month for cash-paying patients.
Hims found itself in hot water earlier this year when it attempted to market a knockoff version of Novo’s Wegovy pill shortly after the med's Jan. 5 launch. But the telehealth company eventually backed off after a lawsuit from Novo, rebukes from the FDA and threats of a Department of Justice investigation. With the new agreement, Novo is dismissing its patent infringement lawsuit against the telehealth company while “reserving the right to refile in the future.”
The FDA has recently brought mass-marketing of compounded GLP-1 meds into focus, with commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., pledging to take “swift action” against companies that improperly promote their copycats. Earlier this month, the agency doubled down with 30 warning letters sent to telehealth companies that make “false or misleading claims” about compounded versions of Novo and Lilly's popular obesity drugs.
In a social media post, Makary said he was “[g]lad to see HIMS will stop advertising unapproved compounded drugs and instead sell FDA-approved products” through the Novo tie-up. The FDA chief added that he expects the deal to keep GLP-1s affordable while limiting compounding of the class to “rare (FDA-compliant) cases.”