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Tuesday, 10 February 2026 |
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| In the last five days, Hims & Hers went from announcing plans to offer a compounded version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, to pushback the next day when HHS’ general counsel referred the company to the DOJ for investigation, to deciding to reverse course and not offer the pill. Yesterday, Novo sued Hims for patent infringement for the pill and the injectable version. |
| Whew. |
| Ever since Novo and Hims’ relationship fizzled last summer, we’ve expected Novo to step up its legal campaign against compounders. Many of Novo and rival Eli Lilly’s actions against compounders have focused on how they market their compounded drugs. But nobody’s made the case that it’s an issue of patent infringement until now. So a big question — discussed on last Friday’s Post-Hoc Live — was why now? |
| From Novo’s perspective, it seems Hims' actions were just a step too far. The Wegovy pill just launched last month, and it hasn’t been in shortage, unlike the injections when they were first available. |
| “The launch of the pill was an egregious step by Hims,” Novo’s group general counsel John Kuckelman told Endpoints News’ Elizabeth Cairns. “There are patients who have been on the injectable because they started on that during the drug shortage, but there can be no justification for launching a compounded
pill.” |
| What I’m focused on now is how the past week’s actions affect other telehealth companies that offer compounded medications. |
| Already, regulatory pressure seems to be leading to changes. Shelby noticed that the Hims ad that aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday seemed to remove a mention of compounding via microdoses. |
| Leerink analyst Michael Cherny said in a note Monday that it’s unclear whether Hims will be able to sell compounded, injectable semaglutide while the companies are in court. “The potential disruption to the top-line and earnings profile of the company could be sizable if Novo’s efforts succeed,” he wrote. Cherny estimated Hims’ weight loss business brought in about $800 million in 2025, about
one-third of its total projected 2025 sales. |
| But on my personal social media accounts, I’m still getting bombarded with ads from companies offering oral semaglutide tablets (occupational hazard). Will the actions against Hims extend to other virtual care companies marketing GLP-1s, both injectable and oral? It seems incredibly possible, albeit hard to rein in given how many sites have popped up in the last few years. |
| - Lydia |
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Abrupt 180 |
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53 |
The number of hours between when Hims announced its plans to sell compounded semaglutide pills (9 a.m. ET on Thursday), and when it said it decided to stop offering the pills (~ 2 p.m. ET on Saturday). |
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Worldwide made. Thanks for reading.
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