Hims & Hers is backing away from plans to offer a compounded, lower-cost version of Novo Nordisk’s newly sold Wegovy weight-loss pill, days after the FDA said it planned to take “decisive steps” to limit access to ingredients used to copy popular GLP-1 drugs.
In a statement late Saturday, the telehealth company said it had decided to stop offering access to the treatment after “constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry.” The company said it remained committed to “the millions of Americans who depend on us for access to safe, affordable, and personalized care.”
The retreat followed a short, rapidly escalating sequence. Hims said Thursday that it would offer a compounded version of the Wegovy pill, which Novo Nordisk had just begun selling last month. Novo Nordisk then threatened to sue Hims, according to the report, and on Friday the FDA said it planned to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular GLP-1 drugs, including Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound.
Hims’ own website and promotional messaging still appeared to be marketing the semaglutide pill offering Saturday afternoon, hours after Hims posted on X that it would no longer sell the medicine. Semaglutide is the chemical name for Wegovy, the report said.
The company did not say Saturday whether it would change any compounded versions of injectable weight-loss medications it has continued to sell in connection with the FDA action. Hims also did not indicate whether any specific customers were affected or how the company would handle ongoing prescriptions.
Hims’ canceled plan had been built around price pressure. The report said the San Francisco-based company had planned to significantly undercut Novo Nordisk’s $149-per-month Wegovy price by selling its version for $49 in the first month and $99 per month after that. The report also said compounded GLP-1 offerings became more common as telehealth companies entered obesity medication markets after earlier branching out into other conditions.
The report said the compounded medicine Hims had planned to sell was not FDA-approved and had not gone through trials designed to show it would be effective. The FDA does permit specialty pharmacies and other companies to make compounded versions of brand name drugs when they are in short supply, and it allows custom prescriptions tailored for a patient.
Demand for GLP-1 drugs has surged in recent years, and companies like Hims have often offered cash-priced options in response, the report said. It added that in 2024 the FDA said GLP-1 drugs were no longer in shortage, a change that had been expected to end compounding—although companies have continued to rely on exceptions in cases where prescriptions are customized for individual patients.
At the same time, Novo Nordisk was preparing to promote its FDA-approved Wegovy pill. The report said Novo planned to air a celebrity-filled Super Bowl ad on Sunday, and it did not immediately comment on Hims’ decision to drop the knockoff.
The report noted that rival drugmaker Eli Lilly has said it expects the FDA to approve an oral version of its orforglipron weight loss medication later this spring, while Wegovy was described as the first pill to reach the market.