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\u2019s weight-loss drugs via its Hims platform, ending a public feud between the companies.<\/p>\n
The numbers: Shares in Hims soared over 50% in before market open, settling up 43.2% at 9:04am ET (12:04am AEDT Tuesday).<\/p>\n
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\u2019s approach globally.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Novo Nordisk\u2019s Ozempic (semaglutide) injections and Wegovy (semaglutide) pills and injections will be offered via the platform later this month.<\/p>\n
The news, first reported by Bloomberg<\/a> on Friday, comes as somewhat of a surprise as it landed around one month after Novo Nordisk sued Hims<\/a>\u00a0over 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.<\/p>\n Speaking to CNBC on Monday, CEO of Novo Nordisk \u00a0Mike Doustdar said: \u201cWe have decided to drop the current court proceedings and, of course, we reserve to bring that back if need be, but I don\u2019t foresee that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n