Novo Nordisk terminates its Hims & Hers partnership

Novo Nordisk announced on June 23, 2025 that it is ending its collaboration with telehealth company Hims & Hers, cutting off the company's direct access to Wegovy through NovoCare Pharmacy ^[1]. The drugmaker said Hims & Hers "failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs under the false guise of 'personalization'" and was "disseminating deceptive marketing that put patient safety at risk" ^[1].

The partnership was barely two months old. It launched in late April as a bundle that combined Wegovy (semaglutide) with a Hims & Hers membership, starting at $599 per month for cash-paying patients ^[3]. Novo Nordisk built the arrangement — along with deals involving other telehealth firms — to move patients off compounded copies after the FDA declared the semaglutide shortage resolved ^[1][2].

Markets reacted sharply. Hims & Hers shares closed more than 34% lower on Monday, according to CNBC ^[2]; Reuters described the drop as more than 30%, or nearly a third of the company's market value ^[4]. Novo Nordisk's own stock closed down more than 5% ^[2][4].

The two sides tell different stories

Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk's executive vice president of U.S. operations, told CNBC: "We expected that the efforts towards compounding personalization would diminish over time. When we didn't see that, we had to make a choice on behalf of patients" ^[2]. Moore said Novo Nordisk will pay no termination fees because the collaboration ran through a third party managing its direct-to-consumer pharmacy ^[2].

Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum pushed back on X, saying the company is "disappointed to see Novo Nordisk management misleading the public" and that Novo's commercial team had "increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients" ^[2][4]. Dudum said the company "will continue to offer access to a range of treatments, including Wegovy" ^[3]. On LinkedIn, Hims & Hers called the move "a move by a pharmaceutical giant to protect its own interests by challenging lawful, personalized compounded care" ^[3].

Novo Nordisk also said its investigation found that the active ingredients in knock-off semaglutide sold by telehealth entities and compounding pharmacies are made by foreign suppliers in China ^[1][2]. It cited a Brookings report finding that the FDA has never authorized the manufacturing processes those suppliers use, and that "a large share of [these Chinese suppliers] were never inspected by FDA, and many of those that were [inspected] had drug quality assurance violations" ^[1][3].

The rules behind the fight

Compounding pharmacies may legally make copies of brand-name drugs during an FDA-declared shortage, or case by case when medically necessary — for example, if a patient is allergic to an ingredient ^[2]. The FDA declared the semaglutide shortage over in February 2025, and set May 22 as the cutoff for larger outsourcing facilities to stop production, with smaller compounding pharmacies required to stop immediately ^[3][4]. Novo Nordisk's own release describes the FDA as resolving the Wegovy shortage "in late April" ^[1]; Reuters and MobiHealthNews date the declaration to February ^[3][4]. On June 20, a U.S. judge upheld the FDA's decision to remove semaglutide from the shortage list ^[4].

Hims & Hers has continued selling what it calls "personalized" doses of semaglutide starting at around $165 a month, arguing such sales are permitted when a patient needs a dose the company does not otherwise offer ^[4].

Why it matters for patients

If you get semaglutide through Hims & Hers, the branded Wegovy you buy there no longer comes through Novo Nordisk's NovoCare Pharmacy channel ^[1]. Hims & Hers says it will keep offering Wegovy along with other options ^[2][3], but the sources do not spell out how supply, pricing or shipping will work after the split. That is not yet known.

The price gap explains much of the dispute: roughly $165 a month for a compounded "personalized" dose versus a $599 monthly bundle for branded Wegovy ^[3][4]. Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, and both the FDA and Novo Nordisk have raised safety concerns about unapproved GLP-1 products ^[1][3].

Legal risk is rising too. Citi analyst Daniel Grosslight wrote that the breakup increases Hims & Hers' legal exposure "substantially" ^[2]. Moore said Novo Nordisk will "engage on the legal front" and with the FDA ^[2].

What happens next

Novo Nordisk said it will keep supplying Wegovy directly through telehealth partners that share its safety stance ^[1]. Reuters reported that Novo's partnerships with LifeMD and Ro were unaffected, and a Novo spokesperson said those partners made good-faith efforts to move patients to the branded drug ^[4]. Truist analyst Jailendra Singh noted Hims had cited the Novo collaboration in its plan to reach $6.5 billion in revenue by 2030 ^[4].