Hims & Hers falls after FDA commissioner says its Super Bowl ad breached regulations
Hims & Hers is falling in premarket trading after its Super Bowl ad from February was singled out as the “most overt” example of “brazen” marketing tactics among online pharmacies by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.
The claim, made in an opinion piece written by Makary and published in the JAMA Network on Friday, highlighted the agency’s stricter enforcement policies on pharmaceutical advertisements.
“Equally brazen, online pharmacies are advertising drugs with only upsides mentioned, contributing to America’s culture of overreliance on pharmaceuticals for health,” Makary wrote. “This breach of FDA regulation was most overt earlier this year when Hims & Hers ran a Super Bowl ad highlighting the benefits of glucagon-like peptide-1 drugs without any mention of side effects or disclaimers.”
Hims’ Super Bowl ad touted its direct-to-consumer weight-loss medications as “life-changing,” “affordable,” and “doctor-trusted,” billing its approach as “the future of healthcare.”
Google searches for the company spiked after the ad appeared during the big game.
Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to crack down on TV drug ads. It was initially unclear whether that order applied to telehealth companies.
Compounded drugs aren’t subject to the same regulatory burdens over their advertisements as branded, FDA-approved drugs made by pharmaceutical companies. For example, Hims can advertise generic Prozac for climax control (an off-label use) while the company that made the drug, Eli Lilly, cannot.