Lawsuits do not often end in partnership.
And yet this is the strange but true story involving Him and her and drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk. Last month, Novo Nordisk sued Hims & Hers over its sale and marketing of GLP-1 compounds. But a month later, the companies hugged and made up. On Monday, they announced that the two companies launch a collaboration and Novo Nordisk dropped its lawsuit against Hims & Hers. For what? Because apparently “they need each other”.
“[Novo Nordisk] needs more customers, faster, and Hims needs to be out of the capitalization game, at least on this product, and needs to find another way to make money,” said Michael Abrams, managing partner of Number of and associatesa consulting firm.
Through this new collaboration, Hims & Hers will offer Novo’s Ozempic injections and Wegovy pills and injections on its platform. In October, Him and She reported that more than 418,000 customers have accessed a GLP-1 drug through its platform. Compounded GLP-1s – which contain the same active ingredient as branded GLP-1s but are not approved by the FDA – will now only be supplied on a “limited scale”. This means that compounded versions will only be prescribed to customers whose clinical needs cannot be met by FDA-approved GLP-1s and when a provider determines that the compounded version is clinically appropriate.
Additionally, Hims & Hers will no longer advertise GLP-1 compounds on its platform or in its marketing.
“The weight loss landscape is completely different today than it was when we entered this category,” Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO of Hims & Hers, said in a statement. post on. “FDA-approved GLP-1 treatments now have more accessible, more affordable, and more flexible dosing options and form factors. These market changes are shifting consumer demand toward these brand-name medications.”
According to a Novo Nordisk spokesperson, the agreement is a victory for patients and sets the companies on the path to success.
“Hims & Hers made a corporate decision to change its business model to FDA-approved GLP-1s,” Liz Skrbkova of Novo Nordisk said in an email. “We welcome this shift in their business model toward affordable, FDA-approved medications. »
History
The conflict between Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk may be retraced at the 2025 Super Bowl, when Hims & Hers released an ad declaring that America’s healthcare system was built to keep patients “sick and stuck.” He also said there are drugs that work, but are priced “profit-driven, not patient-driven.” It did not specifically name any drugs, but presented its GLP-1 compounds.
In response to this ad, Novo Nordisk took out a print ad in the New York Times and USA Today stating: “Do you really know what you are putting into your body?” It then states that GLP-1 compounds are not approved by the FDA and have not been shown to be safe or effective.
At the time of the Super Bowl commercial, there was a shortage of injectable semaglutide products. Compounded medications can only be prescribed if there is a shortage of an FDA-approved drug or if a patient cannot be treated with an FDA-approved drug. The FDA announced in February 2025, shortly after the Super Bowl, that the shortage had been resolved.
Then in April 2025, Novo Nordisk spear a partnership with Hims & Hers, as well as several other telehealth companies, which provided access to its NovoCare Pharmacy direct-to-consumer delivery option through Hims & Hers for Wegovy. This partnership was, however, short-lived: Novo Nordisk abandoned the collaboration only a few months later, due to continued massive sales of GLP-1 compounded by Hims & Hers.
Just in January, Novo Nordisk launched the Wegovy oral pill, followed by Hims & Hers offering a compounded version of that pill in February. However, Hims & Hers withdrew this offer a few days later after the FDA announcement that he was considering taking legal action to protect consumers from drugs that the FDA does not regulate. Then in February, Novo Nordisk also filed a complaint against Hims & Hers for its sale and marketing of GLP-1 compounds, which it has now abandoned.
Why they reconciled
Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk finally stopped feuding for business reasons. Due to legal threats from the FDA and Novo Nordisk, Hims & Hers had to get out of the compound business and find another way to generate revenue, especially after announcing its acquire Australian digital health company Eucalyptus, Numerof’s Abrams said. This agreement with Novo ensures continuity for its current customers and supports the new customer base it is acquiring from Eucalyptus, many of whom may be interested in branded GLP-1s.
Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, faces growing competition from Eli Lilly and needs to reach more patients.
“Novo is currently in the lead, but Lilly is expected to catch up and overtake Novo in the next few years,” Abrams said. “So getting patients to start taking their medication now is the surest way to capture continued market share. Novo, by entering into a distribution agreement that pays Hims in some way for giving them access to their customer base, gives them what they want, which is more customers now. The sooner they get them, the more they have, the more likely it is that they will keep those customers for a while.”
Another health care expert noted that this collaboration is a “vital lifeline” for him and her. After the FDA’s crackdown on GLP-1 compounds, the telehealth company faced a “valuation gap,” according to Warren Templeton, managing director of Health2047, a venture capital studio for the American Medical Association. Much of the recent stock market momentum has been driven by the high margins of the compound semaglutide (its enriched stock 24% after its Super Bowl ad), a business that became increasingly vulnerable as shortages eased and regulators tightened enforcement. The new distribution framework with Novo (assuming it is global) also adds value to the Eucalyptus acquisition as Hims faces increasing restrictions internationally, Templeton added.
But it’s also a major victory for Novo.
“By settling its lawsuit and establishing a distribution agreement for Wegovy, Novo Nordisk is transforming a former adversary into a large-scale digital channel, effectively neutralizing the threat of compounded GLP-1s at scale,” he said. “While Eli Lilly has seen success with its LillyDirect platform, Novo continues to rely heavily on third-party partners like Weight Watchers, Ro and now Hims & Hers.”
Although this chapter is closed, it should be noted that there are several other lawsuits filed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regarding compounded GLP-1s, including against compounding pharmacies such as Axtell’s Rite-Value Pharmacy and Link Pharmacy. Some non-pharmaceutical lawsuits target telehealth companies like Mochi Health and Fella Health, as well as medical centers like Prism Aesthetics.
Although the agreement with Hims naturally has no legal impact on these matters, it highlights a possible path to resolve conflicts between manufacturers and compounders/distributors.
“Entering a distribution agreement between the manufacturer and compounder/distributor in which the latter abandons the compounded version in favor of the approved product and the manufacturer gains access to a new consumer segment has the potential to satisfy both parties,” Abrams said. “However, this does not help manufacturers of mass production products, who are likely to see new legal boundaries evolve as a result of the resolution of current lawsuits.”
Photo: fizkes, Getty Images
