Hims & Hers drops plan for knockoff of Novo Nordisk's new Wegovy weight loss pill
Telehealth company Hims & Hers dropped its plan to offer a knockoff version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy on Saturday — two days after it announced the new drug and one day after the Food and Drug Administration threatened to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular weight-loss medications.Hims had said Thursday that it would offer a compounded version of the new Wegovy pill that drugmaker Novo Nordisk just began selling last month.Novo immediately threatened to sue Hims, and then the FDA said Friday that it plans to take decisive steps to limit access to the active ingredients in popular GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound.Hims' own website still touted the new semaglutide pill offering Saturday afternoon — hours after it announced on X that it will no longer sell the medicine.
Semaglutide is the chemical name for Wegovy.“Since launching the compounded semaglutide pill on our platform, we’ve had constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry.As a result, we have decided to stop offering access to this treatment,” Hims said in its statement.
“We remain committed to the millions of Americans who depend on us for access to safe, affordable, and personalized care.”Hims didn’t say Saturday whether it will make any changes to the compounded versions of injectable weight-loss medications it has been selling as a result of the FDA action.The San Francisco-based company had planned to significantly undercut Novo's price of $149 per month for the Wegovy pill by selling its version at $49 for the first month and $99 per month thereafter.Hims and other similar companies got started several years ago by offering cheap generic versions of drugs for hair loss, erectile dysfunction and other health issues before branching out into the multibillion market for obesity medications.Popular ReadsTrump says he didn't see full racist video, says he won't apologizeFeb 6, 10:09 PMTrump admin declines judge’s request to ...