Records show the Arizona BOP found that Strive began compounding Eli Lilly<\/a> and Novo Nordisk\u2019s<\/a> blockbuster weight-loss drugs before they were added to the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s shortage list, and later flagged what appeared to be templated clinical rationales for prescriptions of compounded GLP-1s.<\/p>\n Outside of a drug shortage, compounding pharmacies are permitted to dispense patient-specific medications \u2014 such as customized dose sizes or doses with additives \u2014 when prescribed by a physician. Lilly and Novo have argued that telehealth companies and compounders are stretching that exemption to mass-produce cheaper copycat versions of their weight-loss drugs.<\/p>\n Lilly sued Strive last year, accusing it of false and deceptive online marketing. In January, Strive sued Lilly and Novo, alleging the drugmakers used exclusive telehealth deals and other tactics to squeeze compounding pharmacies out of the GLP-1 market.<\/p>\n Hims announced February 5 that it would sell compounded oral semaglutide, a product similar to Novo\u2019s Wegovy pill launched weeks earlier. It stopped offering the product two days later after coming under scrutiny<\/a> from the federal government, and is now also facing a patent infringement lawsuit from Novo Nordisk. Hims did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n Questions also arose about whether the Wegovy pill copy sold by Hims and made by Strive would work without Novo\u2019s patented coating. Hims and Strive directed questions to information on Strive\u2019s website describing its \u201cliposomal technology.\u201d The method has not been proven in clinical trials to be effective on humans.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of several now deleted social media posts from Strive Pharmacy the day Hims & Hers announced that it would offer a semaglutide pill (Sherwood News)<\/p>\n Strive has since removed those pages and deleted related posts on X, saying the language was \u201cbeing misunderstood\u201d and that it is updating its descriptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStrive stands behind its solid-state lipid tablet formulation,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement to Sherwood.<\/p>\n GLP-1 compounding<\/p>\n In a February 2024 consent agreement<\/a>, the Arizona BOP stated that Strive began compounding injectable semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo\u2019s Ozempic and Wegovy, in August 2021 \u2014 about seven months before the drugs were added to the FDA\u2019s drug shortage list. Strive agreed to pay a $1,000 fine.<\/p>\n Strive told Sherwood the board did not discipline the company for the original allegation that it had improperly compounded a commercially available product. Instead, the company said the February 2024 consent agreement addressed a documentation issue identified during the inspection.<\/p>\n A February 7, 2024, consent decree pertaining to Strive from the Arizona Board of Pharmacy (Sherwood News)<\/p>\n More recently, a September 4, 2025, inspection found<\/a> that Strive continued to compound and dispense single-ingredient versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide (the key ingredient in Eli Lilly\u2019s weight-loss shot) even after the federal shortage exemption period ended earlier that year.<\/p>\n Strive and Hims have maintained that their GLP-1 products are tailored to individual patients, which is allowed even when branded versions aren\u2019t in a shortage.\u00a0<\/p>\n But an inspector wrote that Strive produced \u201clarge amounts of odd strengths\/doses in anticipation of prescriptions.\u201d They also wrote that different providers whose prescriptions were fulfilled by Strive used identical language to justify the compounding of what regulators described as \u201cessential copies\u201d of commercially available, FDA-approved GLP-1 drugs.<\/p>\n Notes from a September 4, 2025, inspection at Strive\u2019s Gilbert, Arizona, facility (Arizona Board of Pharmacy via Sherwood News)<\/p>\n Strive told Sherwood that it \u201crespectfully disagrees with that characterization of Strive\u2019s GLP-1 compounding activities in the September 4, 2025 inspection report and does not believe it accurately reflects Strive\u2019s compliance with applicable guidance and compounding law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cStrive has requested that the Board amend or update the report to correct the inaccuracies in the inspector\u2019s notes,\u201d a spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n New complaints<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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