Marissa Plescia , 2025-04-29 23:23:00
Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is teaming up with direct-to-consumer telehealth company Hims & Hers to offer discounted access to Wegovy, a GLP-1 manufactured by Novo Nordisk, the companies announced on Tuesday.
Hims & Hers provides treatments for weight, anxiety, sexual health and other conditions. Through the partnership, consumers can now access NovoCare Pharmacy, Novo Nordisk’s direct-to-consumer delivery option, directly through the Hims & Hers platform. Starting at $599 a month, consumers can be prescribed Wegovy and receive a Hims & Hers membership. The latter includes 24/7 care, clinical support and nutrition guidance.
Before the partnership, the cost of Wegovy on the Hims & Hers platform was $1,999 a month. The $599 price is also vastly lower than the other GLP-1s offered on Hims & Hers: it provides Ozempic for $1,799 a month, Mounjaro for $1,899 a month and Zepbound for $1,899 a month.
This is a long-term partnership between Hims & Hers and Novo Nordisk, and the companies will also create a “roadmap that combines Novo Nordisk’s innovative treatments with Hims & Hers’ ability to scale access to quality care,” the announcement stated but did not provide additional detail.
“Together, we’re going to bring more care options to more Americans and take a first step towards proving what access to care should and can look like in the U.S.,” said Andrew Dudum, CEO and founder of Hims & Hers, in a video posted on X.
The fact that the two are partnering is notable as it comes shortly after a feud between the companies over Hims & Hers’ Super Bowl ad that featured the telehealth company’s compounded GLP-1s. These are custom-made by compounding pharmacies and include the same active ingredient found in branded GLP-1s like Wegovy (semaglutide) and are much cheaper than branded versions. And it wasn’t just Hims & Hers offering compounded GLP-1s. So were Ro, WeightWatchers and other telehealth companies.
In response to the Hims & Hers commercial, Novo Nordisk put out a print ad in the New York Times and USA Today stating, “Do you really know what you’re injecting into your body?” The company argued that compounded GLP-1s are not FDA-approved and are not proven to be safe.
Compounded drugs can be prescribed when there is a shortage of an FDA-approved drug, or if the FDA-approved drug is not appropriate for a patient, such as in the case of an allergy. Although there had been a shortage of semaglutide at the time of the Super Bowl ad, the FDA has since stated that the shortage has been resolved, slowing down the prescribing of compounded GLP-1s.
Despite the partnership with Hims & Hers, a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk stated that the company’s position on compounded semaglutide remains unchanged. The company also recently secured a court win against compounders, upholding the FDA’s determination that the semaglutide injectable shortage has been resolved.
“We will continue to aggressively challenge the illegal use of illicit [active pharmaceutical ingredient] by any organization who engages in such activity,” said Jamie Bennett, the spokesperson, in an email. “Making Wegovy available via telehealth channels, with its clinically tested weight loss in its premium pen delivery device, is an important step forward in allowing patients to receive care in the way they choose while helping them achieve their weight loss goals with an authentic FDA-approved medicine.”
It’s also worth noting that Novo Nordisk isn’t just partnering with Hims & Hers to offer discounted GLP-1s. It’s also working with other telehealth companies Ro and LifeMD.
Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
