Novo Nordisk is pulling the plug on its partnership with Hims & Hers Well being over claims that the telehealth firm offered faux variations of the pharmaceutical agency’s weight-loss drug, Wegovy.
The Danish drugmaker stated Monday that Wegovy will now not be out there on Hims & Hers and that it’s ending the collaboration as a result of the San Francisco-based on-line well being firm offered “illegitimate, knockoff variations of Wegovy that put affected person security in danger.”
Novo Nordisk’s transfer to dissolve the partnership got here lower than two months after the businesses stated they have been getting into a “long-term collaboration” to make weight problems remedy extra accessible.
Shares of Hims & Hers plunged greater than $20, or roughly 31%, to $44.10 following Novo Nordisk’s announcement.
Hims & Hers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The corporate had anticipated to make greater than $700 million this 12 months on weight-loss providers, a goal that might be troublesome to succeed in with out Wegovy gross sales.
Novo Nordisk stated it started promoting Wegovy by way of telehealth firms, together with Hims & Hers, after a nationwide scarcity. In providing the drug by extra retailers, Novo Nordisk stated it needed to shift sufferers from utilizing “knock-off, compounded variations” of Wegovy to the Meals and Drug Administration-approved semaglutide drug.
This adopted an order from the FDA that sought to limit compounding pharmacies from promoting copycat weight-loss medication, a transfer that is anticipated to drive up costs.
“After over one month into the collaboration, Hims & Hers Well being, Inc. has failed to stick to the regulation which prohibits mass gross sales of compounded medication beneath the false guise of ‘personalization’ and are disseminating misleading advertising and marketing that put affected person security in danger,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson advised CBS MoneyWatch. “That is unacceptable, and that’s the reason we have now determined to finish the collaboration.”
The FDA permitted Wegovy for adults with weight problems in March 2024, including it to an increasing market of weight-loss medication that embrace Ozempic and Mounjaro. Demand for GLP-1 medication, that are used to deal with diabetes and weight reduction, has surged in recent times, with one in eight U.S. adults saying they’ve used the remedies, in accordance to well being analysis writer KFF.
In its launch, Novo Nordisk stated an organization investigation confirmed that the elements in knock-off medication offered by telehealth entities and compounding pharmacies are manufactured by international suppliers in China and that a big share of the medication have been by no means inspected by the FDA.
“U.S. sufferers shouldn’t be uncovered to knock-off medication made with unsafe and illicit international elements,” Novo Nordisk stated.
Novo Nordisk will proceed to promote Wegovy on different telehealth platforms that “share our dedication to affected person security,” stated Dave Moore, govt vp at Novo Nordisk, within the firm’s assertion. Among the many telehealth firms Novo Nordisk companions with are LifeMD and Ro.
contributed to this report.
