Novo Nordisk wants Hims & Hers to get theirs.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Danish pharmaceutical giant made good on legal threats to sue the online telehealth provider, which has been mass marketing cheaper, unapproved copycat versions of its blockbuster Ozempic and Wegovy weight loss drugs.<\/p>\n
Throwing Their Weight Around<\/p>\n
Hims & Hers invited enough fury from pharma sector rivals to burn a week\u2019s worth of calories last Thursday when it announced plans to sell a knockoff of Novo\u2019s new oral weight loss pill, which was approved<\/a> for US sales less than two months ago. Shares in Novo and its chief competitor, Mounjaro and Zepbound-maker Eli Lilly, each took a roughly 7% tumble. Not to mess around, Novo immediately blasted Hims, alleging the nine-year-old telehealth company is guilty of \u201cduping the American public with knock-off GLP-1 products\u201d and said legal and regulatory action would follow.<\/p>\n And so it did. First, on Friday, the US Food and Drug Administration jumped into the fray, warning<\/a> that a crackdown on the use of GLP-1 ingredients in unapproved compounded drugs is nigh. A day later, Hims backed down and said it would not offer its copycat weight loss pill, which it planned to sell for as little as $49, or $100 less than Novo\u2019s approved Wegovy pill. Novo pressed ahead with legal action Monday, asking a federal court to ban Hims from selling any compounded versions of its drugs for good, including injectable versions, and to award damages. The urgency for both companies is clear:<\/p>\n