United States pharmaceuticals company Hims & Hers Health Inc. has announced that it will stop selling a copycat version of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy weight-loss pill, just two days after its launch, as per a report by Bloomberg.
This comes amid increased scrutiny from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), which is “cracking down on copycat weight-loss treatments”, it added.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on 7 February, Hims said that the decision was made following “constructive conversations with stakeholders”, as per the report. Notably, at time of writing the post was no longer visible on their page.
In an earlier post on 5 February, the company had refuted allegations from Novo that its pill is “unapproved, inauthentic and untested”. It added that Hims has a track record of accessibility and customer-first approach.
Hims calls off Wegovy copycat pills: What happened?
Hims on Thursday announced plans to sell a cheaper version of Novo Nordisk A/S’s new Wegovy weight-loss pill. The drugmaker, which is pinning its comeback on the new pill, called the move illegal and threatened to take action.
Analysts had hailed the new Wegovy pill as one of the most successful drug launches in recent years — a badly needed win for the company.
The next day, the FDA announced its investigation. The Department of Health and Human Services also said it referred Hims to the Department of Justice for possible violations of federal law.
A representatives for Novo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FDA declined to comment.
Novo, Eli Lilly push US FDA for firm action against weight-loss generics
The makers of blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, Novo and Eli Lilly & Co., have long complained the FDA hasn’t done enough to stop the proliferation of cheap, compounded weight-loss drugs. This is the first time Hims has stopped selling a knockoff version after a company complaint.
Telehealth companies were first able to sell knock-off weight-loss drugs during a supply shortage a few years ago. The shortage has ended, but the practice has continued.
Hims and Novo have had longstanding friction over the issue. Last year, the companies were supposed to team up on selling discounted weight-loss shots, but they ended the partnership months later, in part, over the compounding issue.
“We had an agreement that the 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.
The Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said he wouldn’t “cave” to the pharmaceutical company’s demands over copycat weight loss drugs.
“There’s just no way in hell,” he said.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
