The news: Shares in US telehealth company Hims & Hers surged in premarket trading in New York on Monday after it announced a deal to sell Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drugs via its Hims platform, ending a public feud between the companies.
The numbers: Shares in Hims soared over 50% in before market open, settling up 43.2% at 9:04am ET (12:04am AEDT Tuesday).
The context: A press release published by Hims said that its collaboration with Novo Nordisk forms part of its new strategy for weight loss care treatments involving GLP-1s, evolving its US offering to match the company’s approach globally.
As a part of the deal, Hims agreed to no longer advertise compounded GLP-1 offerings on its platform or in its marketing and existing patients will have the opportunity to transition to FDA-approved medicines when determined clinically appropriate by their providers.
Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) injections and Wegovy (semaglutide) pills and injections will be offered via the platform later this month.
The news, first reported by Bloomberg on Friday, comes as somewhat of a surprise as it landed around one month after Novo Nordisk sued Hims over its launch of a USD49 copycat version of its Wegovy weight-loss pill. Novo Nordisk accused Hims of breaching US patents on the ingredient behind Ozempic and Wegovy.
Speaking to CNBC on Monday, CEO of Novo Nordisk Mike Doustdar said: “We have decided to drop the current court proceedings and, of course, we reserve to bring that back if need be, but I don’t foresee that happening.”
In February Hims & Hers agreed to acquire Australian healthcare play Eucalyptus in a USD1.15 billion ($1.63 billion) deal.