Novo Nordisk Backs Away From Hims & Hers Partnership

In a fitting twist for a company called Hims & Hers, the latest drama in the weight-loss drug world has become a classic “he said, she said” tale of alleged corporate misdeeds.

On one side is Novo Nordisk, which on Monday announced it was backing out of its partnership to sell Wegovy at a discounted price to Hims & Hers, accusing the company of selling too many knockoff versions of the drug in violation of their agreement. On the other side, Hims & Hers, which says it was operating within the terms of the deal and called the claims “misleading.”

Compound Interest

Novo and Hims’ April team-up turned the two firms from competitors into collaborators at just the right moment. Two months prior, the US Food and Drug Administration removed the key ingredient of Wegovy, semaglutide, from its shortage list. That effectively put an end to Hims’ newfound (and lucrative) business of selling knockoff compounded versions of the drug to its telehealth customers. Sales of the copycats took a bite out of Novo’s business while the company was already losing market share to archrival Eli Lilly. Which is why the partnership made sense at first: Novo wanted an easier way to sell its weight-loss drugs, and Hims wanted to keep selling weight-loss drugs. 

But the relationship came with strings attached. Namely, according to Novo, Hims was supposed to pare back its copycat drugs business — though the exact terms may have been a little loose: 

• According to FDA rules, Hims technically can still sell its knockoff weight loss drugs to patients who require “personalized dosages,” and in April, the telehealth firm said it would continue to do so. 
• Novo, however, said on Monday that the telehealth firm is continuing “mass sales” of the compounded version in violation of both their partnership agreement and possibly the law. Novo also accused Hims of “disseminating deceptive marketing that put patient safety at risk.”

For its part, Hims said in a statement Monday that Novo pressured the company to “steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients” and that the company refuses “to be strong-armed” and will continue to offer “a range of treatments, including Wegovy.”

Without a Captain: The falling out is the latest challenge for Novo. In the US, weekly prescription fill-ups for Wegovy have recently trailed Eli Lilly’s rival treatment, Zepbound, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment Mounjaro, meanwhile, is closing the gap on Novo’s Ozempic. Worse, Lilly’s R&D pipeline is looking far more promising after it reported successful clinical trials for a pill version of its weight-loss drug, which many expect to juice the so-far injectables-only industry. Novo’s pipeline, meanwhile, took a hit after it reported disappointing trial results for its next-gen weight-loss drug CagriSema in December. The Danish company’s woes ultimately led to the ouster of CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen in May. He hasn’t yet been replaced.