Hims & Hers’ split with Wegovy maker weighs on the telehealth company

Hims & Hers, the high -flying Télésanté company which quickly mounted a buzzing startup selling viagra to a company of several billion dollars with an announcement of the Super Bowl, had a difficult week.

The actions of the San Francisco Society plunged on Monday after its partnership with Novo Nordisk collapsed. The Danish drug manufacturer suddenly ended its agreement to allow itself to sell its drug loss medication directly, which prompted businesses to strive publicly.

Less than two months after agreeing to associate with Hims & Hers, Novo Nordisk accused the Télésanté company of having endangered the safety of patients thanks to the “misleading” marketing and the sale of a version imitated from his medication Wegovy. Hims and his family went back, alleging that Novo Nordisk “deceived the public” and wanted to “control clinical standards and direct patients to Wegovy”.

Disordered split is the last obstacle to Hims & Hers, a platform where people subscribe to get help for hair loss, improve sex, lose weight and solve other health problems. The company aims to reach $ 6.5 billion in revenues by 2030. The fight also highlights tensions between remote charts and pharmaceutical companies.

“The termination of this partnership suggests that Novo still considers the marketing and sales tactics of Hims as a threat to the Wegovy brand and indicates that Novo considers a more competitor competitor than a real partner,” said Aaron Degagne, main analyst from Healthcare to Pitchbook, in a press release.

Hims & Hers’ stock prices have changed wildly this year. The price had at one point climbed more than 150% this year before Novo’s split has overthrew a third of its evaluation on Monday. The share price increased by almost 7% on Friday to finish the week at $ 49.41.

Hims & Hers disrupts the health care industry, testing the limits of regulations to facilitate the purchase of popular drugs at lower prices. His confrontation with Novo could help define how far he can go.

While Hims and his family risk more legal risks after rupture, some analysts have said that they do not expect that the benefits strongly harm the growth of the company. The company extends beyond the simple treatment of weight loss. However, Hims & Hers loses a potential source of income.

“Even with all these sources of income, the largest concern (rightly) is the capacity of these sources of income to fill the expected hole that the end of the novocare partnership creates,” said Michael Cherny, main research analyst in Leerrink Partners, in a note.

Novocare is the pharmacy that people were able to access on the Hims & Hers platform to buy the weight loss medication.

Last year, Hims & Hers declared in a letter to shareholders that the company expects its weight loss offers would contribute at least $ 725 million in revenues in 2025, but that treatments outside this category will constitute the majority of its sales. Wegovy is just a weight loss drug it offers.

Disruptive

Launched in 2017, Hims initially focused on treating men’s health problems such as hair loss and erectile dysfunction – fears that people feel too embarrassed to make visits to the doctor. Instead, subscribers answer online issues, correspond to health professionals practically and obtain the prescribed drugs in visually pleasant packages delivered discreetly at home.

Andrew Dudum, one of the company’s co-founders and his head of management, started the atomic studio in Venture in San Francisco. The startup, now known as Hims & Hers Health Inc., then extended to women’s health, became public in 2021 and increased its workforce to more than 1,600 workers.

Hims & Hers annual income increased from $ 148.8 million in 2020 to $ 1.48 billion in 2024. The company also became profitable with its net income reaching $ 126 million in 2024, against a loss of $ 18 million in 2020. The company plans that it will reach between $ 2.3 billion and $ 2.4 billion year.

The growth of the company and the basis of 2.4 million subsistors were turbocharged, people were looking for easier access and affordable options for very popular weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.

Despite solid results in the first quarter of this year, the company’s forecasts for revenues in the second quarter fell below analysts’ expectations. In May, Hims & Hers said that he reduced more than 4% of his workforce after reporting that he would move away from the sale of cheaper alternatives to weight loss drugs.

His stock initially jumped in February after the company published a controversial announcement of the Super Bowl promoting its treatment for weight loss. The announcement has marketed the TV platform as an affordable solution to a system that is “designed to keep us sick and stuck”.

But the aggressive marketing of the company sparked a counterpoup. Doctors, politicians and drug manufacturers quickly criticized the company so as not to disclose risks Associated with composed drugs that Hims and his sometimes use for weight loss.

With composed medications, approved pharmacists modify, mix or combine the ingredients of a medication to customize the drugs. Although the copy of patented drugs is illegal, the compound imitations are authorized if they are adapted to a patient who may need something slightly different from what the company to detention of product patents. For example, a person can take a medication composed if it is allergic to a certain coloring.

Taking compound medicines includes risks, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. Unlike generics, they are not approved by the FDA, a federal agency that checks if the drugs are safe and effective.

Aggranged drugs are also authorized when there is a shortage of a drug approved by the FDA, which occurred with Wegovy and Ozempic. But these drugs are no longer in shortage, and the FDA warned the public to take compound medicines when it is not medically necessary.

The drug war breaks out

The fallout between Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk focus on its sales of versions composed of Wegovy, a drug that people inject to reduce hunger so that they eat less and lose weight.

In April, the two companies joined forces to make treatment with obesity more affordable and accessible. From $ 599 per month, some people could be prescribed in Wegovy and a Hims & Hers subscription. It was much cheaper than the previous cost to pay $ 1,999 a month for Wegovy on the Hims & Hers platform.

This partnership was short -lived. Novo Nordisk said this week that it cut direct access from Hims & Hers to Wegovy.

“Hims & Hers Health, Inc. failed to respect the law which prohibits mass sales of drugs composed under the false appearance of the ‘personalization’ ‘and disseminates a misleading marketing which endangers the safety of patients,” said Novo Nordisk in a press release.

Hims & Hers announces a composed drug which contains the same ingredients in Wegovy for $ 165 per month.

Novo Nordisk, quoting his own investigation and a Brookings Institution report, said that medication ingredients at the idea sold by tele -history entities and composition pharmacies are made in China and do not have the FDA approval.

Novo Nordisk sells Wegovy through its Novocare and Télésanté Lifemd and RO platforms. On Thursday, the company also announced a partnership with Weightwatchers to sell Wegovy at a reduced price in July.

DUDUM, CEO of Hims & Hers, said on the social media site X that the TV provider would always provide a variety of treatments including Wegovy. The company says on its website that it works with pharmacies in Arizona and Ohio which are regulated.

“We refuse to be solid by the anti-competitive requirements of a pharmaceutical company which involves independent decision-making of service providers and limit the choice of patients,” he said in the press release.