Novo Nordisk has announced that it has “reached an agreement” with Hims & Hers which will see its Ozempic and Wegovy injections, along with the Wegovy pill, sold through the digital platform.
Announced yesterday, the Danish pharmaceutical company said that it had dismissed the lawsuit against the platform with the agreement that Hims & Hers “will no longer advertise compounded glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) offerings on its platform or in its marketing”.
Existing patients will also have the opportunity to “transition to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved alternatives, when clinically appropriate”, it added.
Read more: Novo Nordisk sues Hims & Hers for compounding ‘knock off’ Wegovy
Novo Nordisk noted, however, that it is “reserving the right to refile” the lawsuit “in the future”.
“We welcome Hims & Hers shifting their GLP-1 business model to focus on increasing access to affordable, branded FDA-approved medicines,” it said.
And it explained that patients using Hims & Hers will have access to the “full range” of Novo Nordisk weight loss medications on the platform from “later this month”.
“Meaningful win”
Novo Nordisk president and chief executive Mike Doustdar said that the agreement with Hims & Hers is a “meaningful win for patients in the United States”.
“By expanding access through leading telehealth providers and digital care platforms, we are helping to connect more people with our FDA-approved medicines,” he added.
Read more: Hims & Hers brings weight loss subscription to UK, incl oral option
Hims & Hers said that its collaboration with Novo Nordisk is “part of a new strategy for weight loss care treatments involving GLP-1s” which will evolve its US offering to “match the company’s approach globally”.
“By aligning its domestic and international models in weight loss, Hims & Hers will become the largest global consumer health platform for access to more affordable, approved medications,” it claimed.
And Hims & Hers co-founder and chief executive Andrew Dudum said that the collaboration “reflects what’s possible globally when drugmakers, biotech companies, and diagnostic leaders partner with consumer platforms to support scaled distribution of their latest medical innovations”.
Read more: US pharmacy sues GLP-1 makers for ‘restricting competition’
It comes after Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit against Hims & Hers last month, alleging that the platform was “unlawfully” mass compounding “unsafe” and “knock-off” versions of its semaglutide weight loss drugs.
It claimed that by “mass marketing unapproved versions” of Wegovy and Ozempic for the US market, the company was “deceiving patients and putting their health at risk”.
Meanwhile, the American compounding company Strive filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in January, alleging that the companies “unlawfully” restricted competition for GLP-1 drugs in the US.
