Novo Nordisk to Sell Weight-Loss Drugs Through Hims & Hers
Agreement brings an end to the legal dispute between the two companies
- Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers Health partnered to sell weight-loss drugs, ending a patent-infringement lawsuit.
- Hims & Hers will offer Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic at self-pay prices and stop advertising compounded GLP-1 drugs.
- Novo Nordisk dismissed its lawsuit against Hims & Hers but reserved the right to refile in the future.
Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk said it is teaming up with Hims & Hers Health to sell its weight-loss drugs through the telehealth company’s platform, bringing an end to a legal dispute between the two companies.
Hims & Hers shares jumped 47% Monday, while Novo Nordisk shares were up 1.7%.
As part of the agreement, Hims & Hers will offer access to Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy obesity drug in injection and pill forms, the Danish drugmaker said Monday. Hims & Hers will also offer access to Wegovy’s sister medicine, Ozempic, for diabetes.
The drugs will go on sale later this month at Novo Nordisk’s self-pay prices. The prices range from $149 to $499 a month, depending on the drug and dosage.
Hims & Hers will no longer advertise compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs—the class of medicines to which Wegovy and Ozempic belong—on its platform, Novo Nordisk said. Compounded drugs are alternative versions of prescription drugs made by specialized pharmacies.
Novo Nordisk said that it is dismissing its patent-infringement lawsuit against Hims & Hers in light of the agreement, but that it reserved the right to refile in the future.
Last month, Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Delaware accusing Hims & Hers of violating the patents covering its Ozempic and Wegovy drugs by trying to sell custom-made, lower-cost versions of those medicines.
The deal is the second between the companies, after a first agreement fell through.
Last April, the companies announced a partnership to make Wegovy available through Hims & Hers, but the deal fell apart in June after Novo Nordisk accused Hims & Hers of illegally selling cheaper compounded versions.
The animosity spiked again soon after Novo Nordisk began selling a pill version of Wegovy in January. Hims & Hers in February countered with a compounded pill version of the drug’s main ingredient, semaglutide, prompting Novo Nordisk’s lawsuit. Hims & Hers stopped selling the pill after federal officials announced steps to restrict it.
The soaring demand for weight-loss drugs—and shortages of the original brands—has spurred compounding pharmacies and telehealth companies to get a piece of the action by selling lower-cost copycat versions of drugs from both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. The brand-name manufacturers have since resolved their shortages.
The competition has come at the expense of sales of the branded drugs, and Novo Nordisk and Lilly have taken legal actions to try to limit it.
Hims & Hers said Monday it will now focus on selling Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for weight loss and will only offer compounded semaglutide on a limited scale.