Hims & Hers Partners with Novo on Weight Loss Drugs

Hims & Hers Health shares surged more than 40 percent on Monday after the telehealth company announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk to sell the pharmaceutical giant's branded weight loss drugs on its platform, prompting Novo to dismiss a pending patent infringement lawsuit.

The agreement, revealed in a joint statement, resolves a legal dispute that arose last month when Hims & Hers planned to launch a lower-cost, compounded version of Wegovy, Novo's semaglutide-based weight loss medication. Novo had quickly filed suit, describing the product as an "unapproved, inauthentic, and untested knockoff" of its drug. Hims & Hers abandoned the plan just two days later, following a warning from the Food and Drug Administration about limiting access to key ingredients for such copies.

Under the deal, Hims & Hers will begin offering oral and injectable forms of Wegovy and Ozempic, another Novo semaglutide product used for diabetes and weight management, on its direct-to-consumer platform later this month. In exchange, Hims & Hers agreed to cease advertising or marketing compounded versions of GLP-1 drugs, a class of medications that mimic hormones to regulate blood sugar and appetite....