By Stine Jacobsen and Maggie Fick
COPENHAGEN, March 9 (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk has agreed to sell its blockbuster Wegovy and Ozempic drugs through U.S. telehealth company Hims & Hers’ platform, the Danish drugmaker said on Monday, ending a legal dispute that erupted last month.
The deal marks a turnaround from February, when Novo sued Hims over a $49 compounded alternative to its Wegovy weight-loss pill.
Shares of the telehealth company rose 36% in morning trading.
Novo is grappling with telehealth firms offering cheaper compounded copycat versions of its obesity treatments.
Under the agreement, Hims will offer regulatory-approved Ozempic and Wegovy injectables, as well as the Wegovy pill, to U.S. consumers on its platform at Novo’s self-pay prices.
In return, Hims will no longer advertise compounded GLP-1 drugs, though it will continue offering them when providers deem it clinically necessary.
“Glad to see HIMS will stop advertising unapproved compounded drugs and instead sell FDA-approved products through its new partnership with Novo Nordisk. Importantly, they will keep them affordable (no increase in price) and limit compounded GLP-1s for rare (FDA compliant) cases,” FDA commissioner Marty Makary wrote in a post on social media platform X.
“I’d like to congratulate both parties on this deal following our recent action.”
In February, the health regulator said it would take decisive steps against companies mass-marketing illegal copycat drugs, including Hims.
COMPETITION DRIVES PRICE CUTS
Novo CEO Mike Doustdar said the Wegovy pill had generated more than 600,000 prescriptions since its launch two months ago, with telehealth partnerships accelerating uptake.
The Danish firm faces stiff U.S. competition from Eli Lilly. To boost sales, Novo has cut prices for its weight-loss drugs from about $1,000 per month to $149-$299 on its websites.
Doustdar said lower pricing was a key part of the partnership, telling Reuters that “authentic products are now very similarly priced as the compounded ones”.
The deal follows a warning last week from U.S. regulators to 30 telehealth companies over misleading promotions of compounded drugs from the GLP-1 class that includes Wegovy and Ozempic. The Food and Drug Administration said some firms falsely equated compounded products with approved medications.
Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said the partnership with Novo followed Hims’ decision to shift its U.S. weight-loss business away from compounded GLP-1 drugs and towards branded, FDA-approved treatments, reflecting what he said was rising demand for a wider range of lower-cost options.
“That’s where we see growth in the business,” Dudum told Reuters.
In light of the agreement, Novo Nordisk said it was withdrawing the patent infringement lawsuit “while reserving the right to refile”.
Novo ended a similar agreement last year over concerns about compounded drug marketing and sales.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen and Maggie Fick in London, additional reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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