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Hims & Hers will stop selling its discounted version of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss pill Wegovy, handing the Danish drugmaker a win and capping two days of intensifying pressure on the US telehealth company.
Less than 24 hours after the US Food and Drug Administration said it would investigate Hims and other companies offering compounded weight-loss drugs, Hims said “we have decided to stop offering access to this treatment”.
On Thursday, the company said it would offer a discounted version of Wegovy retailing at $49 a month. The treatment would contain semaglutide, the same active ingredient as Novo’s drug. Denmark-based Novo began selling Wegovy in the US last month for $149 a month at the lowest dose after it became the first oral version of a weight-loss drug to be approved by regulators worldwide.
Novo slammed Hims’ rival product and threatened to sue the company.
Wall Street analysts said the move exposed Hims to litigation risk because Novo’s pill, which was approved in December, is under patent protection. Hims’ share price sank about 15 per cent after markets closed Friday, when the FDA announced its enforcement threat.
Hims shares are trading at the lowest level since November 2024 as the company is trying to broaden its products beyond cheaper versions of popular weight-loss drugs sold by Novo and rival Eli Lilly.
The San Francisco-based company is scheduled to run a Super Bowl ad on Sunday.
Last year, the FDA sent warning letters to drug companies about the claims made in their ads, and said the enforcement threats were prompted in part by Hims’ 2025 Super Bowl commercial.