A month after drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy pill, online health and wellness company Hims & Hers plans to undercut it with a compounded semaglutide pill offered at a lower price.
Hims & Hers announced Thursday it was offering a weight-loss pill with the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, starting at $49 per month, as part of its weight-loss solutions.
Novo Nordisk launched its oral obesity med on Jan. 5, with the cost of the starting 1.5-mg dose set at $149 per month—or about $5 per day—for cash-paying patients. The monthly price for commercially insured patients, meanwhile, could potentially run as low as $25 for those using savings plans, Novo said in a press release.
"We have spent years building the infrastructure required to put the power of choice back into the hands of the individual, and we are committed to ensuring providers can always make the best clinical decision for their patients with an array of safe options to help find care that fits their lifestyle,” Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO of Hims & Hers, said in a statement "We’re excited to find ways to continue bringing branded treatments to the platform across specialties. More choice on the platform is the best thing for customers everywhere.”
Hims & Hers stock whipsawed on Thursday morning, jumping more than 13% to $27.55 when the news was announced and then settling back down to $24.41 in late morning trading. Novo's U.S.-listed shares dropped roughly 6%.
The maker of Wegovy is threatening to sue and take regulatory action, saying Hims & Hers' new weight loss medication is illegal and calling it an "unapproved, inauthentic and untested knockoff semaglutide pill."
"The action by Hims & Hers is illegal mass compounding that poses a significant risk to patient safety. Novo Nordisk will take legal and regulatory action to protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework. This is another example of Hims & Hers' historic behaviour of duping the American public with knockoff GLP-1 products, and the FDA has previously warned them about their deceptive advertising of GLP-1 knockoffs," the pharma company said in a statement.
Novo says it's the only drugmaker to manufacture an FDA-approved Wegovy pill formulated with SNAC technology, which facilitates semaglutide absorption when administered orally.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning, calling compounded GLP-1 medications "risky for patients."
"FDA is aware that some patients and health care professionals may look to unapproved versions of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists) drugs, including semaglutide and tirzepatide, as an option for weight loss," the FDA said. "Unapproved versions do not undergo the FDA’s review for safety, effectiveness and quality before they are marketed."
The American Diabetes Association's Obesity Association recently published new standards of care that does not recommend the use of non-FDA-approved compounded products.
Hims & Hers said the compounded product uses a different formulation and delivery system than FDA-approved oral semaglutide. The company said it adheres to all applicable federal and state regulatory standards for compounding. And the company said all active pharmaceutical ingredients in compounded treatments are sourced exclusively from FDA-registered facilities, ensuring quality and safety.
Hims & Hers’ newest weight loss product is a clear example of the company’s strategy to leverage customization and the current legal backdrop to expand its offerings, Leerink Partner analysts said in a note.
“The compounded semaglutide pill is an extremely logical new product offering given the existing platform within weight loss and expected demand from available oral GLP-1s. With the aforementioned current legal backdrop, there is no reason why HIMS shouldn't evaluate these launches for every subsequent weight loss product as the market continues to evolve, even if the company has not historically focused on tirzepatide as a compound,” Leerink analyst Michael Cherny wrote in the note.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) also weighed in Hims & Hers’ newly announced Wegovy pill.
“Mass compounding of new medicines weeks after their approvals undermines the public health and the entire drug review and approval framework,” Chanse Jones, deputy vice president of media relations for PhRMA, said in a statement.
“These actions also present serious patient safety concerns by flooding the market with drugs that have not been reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness and quality. It’s vital for patients to know compounded drugs are not FDA-approved medicines,” Jones said. “The FDA and other policymakers should take immediate action to ensure the integrity of the FDA's rigorous regulatory review and approval process, the drug supply chain and decades of carefully balanced approaches to fostering innovation and generic competition.”
Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk’s rival in the diabetes and obesity market, also is expected to launch a weight-loss pill, orforglipron, in the first half of this year.
But UBS analyst Michael Yee doesn’t anticipate potential compounded versions of oral GLP-1 medications will have a significant impact on Lilly’s upcoming weight loss pill. Compounded injectable semaglutide GLP-1 has been widely available for awhile, he noted, yet Eli Lilly has been “beating numbers and just put up a huge Q4 beat this week by 10% on Zepbound alone,” he wrote in a note.
Zepbound raked in $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter, which was up 123% year over year and an increase from $3.6 billion in the third quarter and, Yee noted, the drug “continues to show robust growth despite compounded injectable GLP-1 Wegovy.”
Lilly is projecting 2026 sales to come in at between $80 billion and $83 billion, Fierce Pharma reported this week.
The injectable Zepbound is available through cash pay (LillyDirect) and is accessible through other channels, Yee wrote, while also noting that there’s been price reductions to make it more easily affordable. “We note ORFO (orforglipron) is widely going to be available and accessible at affordable prices and demand will be strong in 2026,” Yee wrote.
In November, Hims & Hers said it was in active discussions with Novo Nordisk to make Wegovy injections and its Wegovy obesity pill available through the company's online platform. Hims & Hers' latest move caps off a rocky relationship with the drugmaker. Back in June, Novo abruptly ended a monthlong collaboration with Hims & Hers to make its weight loss drug Wegovy available on the telehealth company's platform. Novo Nordisk cited concerns about Hims & Hers selling and promoting knockoff compounded GLP-1 drugs, which are more affordable versions of the popular weight loss medications.
Hims & Hers has stood firm on offering compounded medications despite Novo Nordisk's objections. CEO Andrew Dudum said the company is providing more access to these medications and offers an option for patients who require personalized dosages.
“There’s just no way in hell we’re going to cave on that, no matter who the pharma company is or what the partnership looks like," Dudum told Bloomberg in June. Dudum maintains that offering personalized dosages of semaglutide are allowed under FDA rules.
Hims & Hers operates a vertically integrated compounding network, including facilities in Arizona, Ohio and California, with a total footprint exceeding one million square feet as of 2025. The company said its facilities integrate advanced pharmacy capabilities, lab testing and R&D space. It also acquired a U.S.-based peptide facility based in California last year to expand its production of peptide treatments.
The company's third-quarter revenue jumped 49% year over year to hit $599 million, and the company brought in net income of nearly $15.8 million.
Hims & Hers' weight loss business continues to be a major focus for the company, and that segment is on pace to bring in $725 million in revenue in 2025, Yemi Okupe, Hims & Hers' chief financial officer, said during the Q3 call with investors in early November.
Through Q3, Hims & Hers' subscribers grew to more than 2.5 million, up 21% year over year. The number of subscribers using personalized solutions grew 50% year over year in the third quarter of 2025, according to the company.