Novo Nordisk ends collaboration with Hims & Hers
Novo Nordisk said it’s ending its collaboration due to concerns with Hims & Hers the company’s sales and promotion of cheap knock-offs of the weight loss drug Wegovy. Photo by Ida Marie Odgaard/EPA-EFE
Novo Nordisk announced Monday it has ended its partnership with Hims & Hers over its sale and promotion of cheaper versions of its weight loss drug Wegovy.
The company said in a press release that Hims & Hers failed to follow law “prohibiting mass sales of compounded drugs under the false guise of ‘personalization’ and are disseminating deceptive marketing that put patient safety at risk.”
“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,” said Dave Moore, Novo Nordisk’s executive vice president of U.S. operations.
An investigation found that the drugs sold were manufactured by foreign suppliers in China and the FDA never authorized or approved the processes used by any foreign suppliers, according to a report from the Brookings Institute.
Novo Nordisk entered partnerships with telehealth companies after the FDA in April resolved its Wegovy shortage, concluding that Novo Nordisk is meeting the demand of this medicine.
Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum said the company gives providers and patients choices in treatments.
“Ultimately, what is right for them is their own discretion,” he said. “I think we strongly believe it’s really important that we maintain that independence.”
Novo Nordisk said it will continue offering the branded version of Wegovy through organizations that “share our commitment to safe and effective medical treatment for patients living with chronic diseases.”
“These medicines that are coming into our country from sources around the world are not even approved in those countries that they originated from, and it’s a problem,” Moore said.
“U.S. patients should not be exposed to knock-off drugs made with unsafe and illicit foreign ingredients,” said Novo Nordisk.