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The basics:
Novo Nordisk warns Hims & Hers over $49 compounded, copycat version of Wegovy
Drugmaker says product infringes on its branded GLP-1 treatment
Hims offering lower-cost compounded weight-loss alternatives amid soaring demand
Dispute highlights growing tension between brand-name pharma, telehealth platforms
Novo Nordisk vowed to take legal action against Hims & Hers after the telehealth platform launched a cheaper, copycat version of the pharmaceutical giant’s Wegovy GLP-1 weight loss pill.
In a Feb. 5 press release, the Danish drugmaker called out what it called the unlawfully mass marketed product as “an unapproved, inauthentic and untested knockoff semaglutide pill.”
“The action by Hims & Hers is illegal mass compounding that poses a significant risk to patient safety,” Novo Nordisk said. The company’s once-daily oral Wegovy hit the market last month, less than two weeks after securing U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Novo Nordisk plans to take action “to protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework.”
The announcement came hours after San Francisco-headquartered Hims & Hers said it will begin offering compounded copies of the Wegovy pill. The company detailed at an introductory price of $49 per month and $99 thereafter with a five-month plan.
In a statement to NJBIZ, Hims & Hers said, “Our track record speaks for itself and is why we’ve been able to help 2.5M customers access care personalized to their needs. We’re focused on bringing more access, more positive outcomes, and more choice to customers everywhere. That’s as true today as it was at our founding.”
Knock it off
“This is not the first time – nor will it be the last time – a big pharma company has suggested taking an accessible, customer-first approach to health care is dangerous, illegal, or bad for the marketplace. This narrative is as predictable as it is outdated and false,” the company said.
Less than a year ago, Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers revealed plans to embark on a long-term collaboration to make obesity treatment more accessible.
In April 2025, Hims & Hers Health Inc. announced a collaboration with Novo Nordisk for a bundled offering of Wegovy on the Hims & Hers platform. However, Novo Nordisk announced a few months later it was ending the partnership. – PROVIDED BY HIMS & HERS
The move came in the wake of the FDA’s move to remove semaglutide from its shortage list in February 2025. The FDA also told compounding pharmacies to stop producing unbranded versions by May.
In support of transitioning patients from knockoff compounded versions to authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy, Novo Nordisk began partnering with telehealth companies, like Hims & Hers.
However, less than two months later, Novo Nordisk ended the relationship in June 2025. At the time, the drugmaker said it based the determination on the “deceptive promotion and selling of illegitimate knockoff versions” that “put patient safety at risk.”
This week, Novo Nordisk described Hims & Hers’ compounded semaglutide weight loss pill as “another example” of the company’s “historic behaviour of duping the American public with knock-off GLP-1 products.” Semaglutide is the active ingredient in GLP-1 drugs.
Under federal regulations, compounding pharmacies can make and sell large quantities of brand-name medicines only if they are in short supply. The FDA declared a semaglutide shortage in 2022. After, pharmacies, telehealth companies and other health care providers could manufacture copycat GLP-1 therapies. Because consumers considered the drugs a cheaper, easier to access alternative, interest in compounded treatments skyrocketed.
Opposing views
Now, the FDA allows compounding of prescriptions specific to particular patients.
Noom offers smaller doses of compounded semaglutide as part a program tailored to individual patients. – PROVIDED BY NOOM
In those instances, pharmacies cannot produce the dugs in large batches that might allow for cheaper production costs. As a result, telehealth companies like Princeton-based Noom have pivoted. That company now offers smaller doses of compounded semaglutide as part a program tailored to individual patients.
Semaglutide’s patent is protected in the U.S. until 2032. However, Hims & Hers said its copies are “personalized” and therefore legal.
“This compounded product uses a different formulation and delivery system than FDA-approved oral semaglutide,” the company said.
“This once-a-day pill has the same active ingredient as Wegovy and empowers providers to tailor treatment plans specifically for those who prefer to avoid needles or need smaller doses to help to balance side-effects,” it went on.
Hims & Hers maintains the approach complies with FDA regulations allowing personalized exceptions. However, Novo Nordisk insists most compounded semaglutide sales remain illegal.
Patient safety at the fore
In its statement this week, Novo Nordisk highlighted that the FDA-approved Wegovy pill uses a technology that facilitates absorption when administered orally. It’s unclear how Hims & Hers’ copy formula could match the level of absorption.
Within the past year, Novo Nordisk filed over 120 lawsuits to stop the marketing and sale of copycat GLP-1s. The complaints have led to injunctions and court orders blocking unapproved sales; protecting the company’s patents; and limiting distribution of unsafe, non‑FDA‑approved semaglutide.
“With the end of the shortage of Wegovy and Ozempic, no patient should have to be exposed to unsafe, inauthentic ‘semaglutide’ drugs. Patient safety remains a top priority for Novo Nordisk and the extensive nationwide legal actions we have taken to protect Americans from the health risks posed by illegitimate ‘semaglutide’ drugs are working.
“We will continue driving these actions forward and escalate our efforts as necessary, while closely engaging with regulators and law enforcement,” the company said in an April 2025 press release recapping legal wins.