Hims & Hers surges after announcing partnership with Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk
The partnership will start off by giving Hims & Hers users direct access to NovoCare, the drugmaker’s direct-to-consumer platform.
Hims & Hers shot up 30% in premarket trading after it announced a collaboration with Novo Nordisk, the drugmaker that manufactures Ozempic and Wegovy.
In a Tuesday morning announcement, the telehealth company said that “as a first step,” its patients would be able to access NovoCare, Novo’s direct-to-consumer platform, through Hims & Hers. The two companies are “developing a roadmap that combines Novo Nordisk’s innovative medications with Hims & Hers’ ability to deliver access to quality care at scale,” Dave Moore, head of Novo’s US operations, said in a statement.
Hims has been selling copycat versions of Novo’s weight-loss drugs for about a year while they were in a shortage, and its ability to continue doing so was going to be significantly limited after May 22. NovoCare comes at a flat price of $599 for a month’s supply, compared to the roughly $200 a month Hims charges for compounded semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.
Investors have been eager for a sign that Hims would be able to continue selling blockbuster weight-loss drugs that have taken the country by storm in recent years. Earlier this month, the company’s stock jumped after investors misinterpreted an announcement from the company as a partnership with Eli Lilly, but those gains quickly faded.
Lilly and Novo have both launched ad campaigns questioning the safety of compounded weight-loss injections, like those sold by Hims. Last week, Lilly sued a group of telehealth companies selling “personalized” copies of its weight-loss drugs.
Hims sells only compounded versions of Novo’s drugs and has previously suggested that it would also continue selling personalized versions after May 22. Hims CEO Andrew Dudum told Sherwood News in an interview last month that the need to adjust doses of semaglutide is “extremely high.”
A spokesperson for Hims told Sherwood on Tuesday that it plans to “still offer access to personalized compounded treatments in cases where it’s clinically appropriate.”
Ro, one of Hims’ top competitors, also announced a nearly identical partnership with Novo on Tuesday — though users on Ro can get a month’s supply for $499, compared to $599 through Hims. Ro already has a partnership with Lilly to offer vials of Zepbound on its platform. Dudum has said previous efforts to collaborate with Novo and Lilly have not worked out because of the necessary scale.
While Tuesday’s announcement doesn’t necessarily create new options for consumers, it does seem to reduce the looming risk that Novo may sue Hims, a risk analysts have consistently been pricing in.
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