Novo Nordisk drops suit, clears Hims to sell Wegovy and Ozempic

Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers announced a settlement on March 9 that will put the pharmaceutical giant’s branded GLP-1 medicines, Wegovy and Ozempic, on the Hims telehealth platform and halt a recent legal fight that had snarled the market for compounded weight‑loss drugs. Novo said it was withdrawing its lawsuit while reserving the right to refile; Hims agreed to stop advertising compounded GLP‑1 products and to sell Novo’s drugs at the same price other telehealth platforms charge.

The move closes a brief but consequential clash that began in February after Hims signaled plans to market a lower‑cost compounded semaglutide product. Novo had challenged that offering as infringement and publicly pursued legal remedies. Hims subsequently scaled back the off‑brand plan after federal regulators signaled stricter limits on access to ingredients used for compounding. Under the new agreement Hims will continue to provide compounded GLP‑1s only when clinicians determine they are clinically necessary.

Novo Chief Executive Mike Doustdar framed the litigation pause as conditional but optimistic. “We have decided to drop the current court proceedings and, of course, we reserve [the right] to bring that back if need be, but I don't foresee that happening,” he said in a television interview. Hims Chief Executive Andrew Dudum emphasized the company’s strategic shift to branded, FDA‑approved treatments. “That's where we see growth in the business,” Dudum said.

The pact responds to regulatory and market pressure that had complicated patient access to GLP‑1 therapies. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, in a social media post, welcomed Hims’ pivot from mass advertising of compounded drugs to branded options and said the company would keep prices steady while reserving compounding for rare, FDA‑compliant cases. Regulatory actions in recent weeks targeted supply channels used by compounding pharmacies, increasing incentives for telehealth firms to favor manufacturer products.

Operational details in public statements are limited. Hims plans to offer both injectable and oral formulations of semaglutide on its platform later in March, and it committed to price parity with other telehealth distributors. Novo said nothing publicly about financial terms, supply guarantees, or contract length. Doustdar also told interviewers that Novo now has more than 600,000 Wegovy pill prescriptions, a figure that underscores the scale of demand for oral semaglutide.

Financial markets registered an immediate reaction. Reports from multiple outlets put Hims & Hers’ intraday gains in a broad range: AP said shares rose more than 40 percent, CNBC reported a premarket spike as high as about 50 percent, and UPI cited an intraday jump of as much as 55 percent with a reported peak near $23 per share and a trading level around $21.50, up roughly 36.7 percent. Those differences reflect timing and calculation methods across exchanges and news services. Hims shares had fallen earlier in the month, reportedly down about 51 percent before the rebound.

The deal shifts the business calculus for telehealth providers that had leaned on compounding to offer lower‑cost semaglutide alternatives. It also removes an immediate legal obstacle between a major manufacturer and a high‑volume telehealth distributor while leaving open the prospect of future litigation should commercial behavior deviate from the agreement. For patients, the settlement promises broader direct access to approved Wegovy and Ozempic on a widely used platform and tighter limits on mass marketed compounded alternatives.