
Just two days after launching a copycat version of Wegovy’s new weight loss pill, Hims & Hers Health Inc. said it would stop selling the drug.
The announcement comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration said it was cracking down on copycat weight-loss treatments, such as those sold by Hims.
After having “constructive conversations with stakeholders,” Hims decided to stop offering the treatment, the company said in a statement. post on X Saturday.
Hims on Thursday announced plans to sell a cheaper version of Novo Nordisk The new Wegovy weight loss pill by A/S. The drugmaker, that is pasting its return to the new pill, called the move illegal and threatened to act.
Analysts hailed Wegovy’s new tablet as one of the most successful drug launches in recent years – a much-needed win for the company.
The next day, the FDA announced their investigation. The Department of Health and Human Services also said it referred Hims to the Department of Justice for possible violations of federal law.
Read More: FDA Targets Copycat Weight Loss Drugs to Blow to Hims & Hers
A Novo representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FDA declined to comment.
The makers of the blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, Novo and Eli Lilly & Co., has long complained that the FDA isn’t doing enough to stop the proliferation of cheap, compounded weight-loss drugs. This is the first time Hims has stopped selling a knockoff version following a complaint to the company.
Read More: Hims Won’t Back Down From Its Fight With Big Pharma
Telehealth companies first sold weight-loss drugs during a supply shortage a few years ago. The shortage has ended, but the practice continues.
Hims and Novo have had a long-standing dispute over the issue. Last year, the companies were supposed to work together to sell discounted weight loss shots, but they ended the partnership months later, in part, because of the compounding issue.
“We had an agreement that mass compounding would stop and unfortunately it didn’t stop,” Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president of product and portfolio strategy at Novo, said at the time.
Hims CEO Andrew Dudum says he won’t be “devastated” by the pharmaceutical company’s demands for weight-loss drugs.
“No way in hell,” he said.






