The news: Novo Nordisk dropped its patent infringement lawsuit against Hims & Hers after the companies partnered to offer Novo’s branded GLP-1 drugs on Hims’ telehealth platform.

Starting later this month, Hims will offer Wegovy pills and injections and Ozempic injections on its website at Novo’s recently discounted self-pay prices. In exchange for Novo dropping the lawsuit, Hims agreed to stop advertising compounded GLP-1s on its platform and in its marketing. But Hims can still sell personalized compounded GLP-1s to some patients when a doctor deems it clinically appropriate.

How we got here: Novo and Hims have been locked in a messy public dispute over the past year, largely over Hims’ refusal to stop selling compounded versions of Novo’s semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic).

The companies struck a similar distribution deal last year, but it unraveled in just two months after Novo accused Hims of illegally selling knockoff Wegovy and deceptively marketing its compounded GLP-1s. Hims, meanwhile, has maintained that it can legally prescribe copycat GLP-1s as long as they aren’t exact replicas of the branded drugs and there’s a legitimate medical need for an alternative.

Why it matters: The deal highlights the urgency of mending fences on both sides.

Novo taps a key marketing channel to drive prescription GLP-1 growth. Novo has partnered with several telehealth companies and pharmacies to expand access to its cash-pay weight loss drugs, but now it has access to Hims’ 2.5 million subscribers—and likely many more as the company promotes lower-cost, FDA-approved GLP-1s on its platform. While any patient with a prescription can purchase Novo’s drugs at discounted cash-pay prices, Hims’ marketing power will boost awareness and potentially help Novo narrow the GLP-1 gap with Eli Lilly.

Hims will no longer be entangled in a messy lawsuit with Big Pharma. That should ease investor concerns. And once Hims stops advertising copycat weight loss drugs, the heightened regulatory scrutiny of its compounded GLP-1 business should also subside. That’s a major relief for Hims, which had faced significant questions about how extensively it could continue prescribing compounded weight loss drugs. Now, it’s positioned as the leading telehealth player offering discounted, FDA-approved GLP-1s.

Implications for telehealth companies and the weight loss drug market: Importantly, Hims doesn’t have to stop prescribing compounded semaglutide altogether; it just can’t market them to consumers—meaning at least some current patients can keep taking the cheaper alternatives. While the deal suggests both sides benefit, Novo appears to have conceded more; it likely calculated that its patent lawsuit would take too long to resolve.

Other leading telehealth brands that still offer compounded GLP-1s now face a choice.

• They could pursue partnerships with Novo (and potentially Lilly), leveraging their cash-pay customer acquisition strength as Big Pharma acknowledges its consumer marketing gaps.
• Or, they can keep advertising compounded weight loss drugs that attract price-sensitive patients, while risking heightened regulatory and legal scrutiny now that attention has shifted from Hims.

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