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This is the rapid loss of index weight:
The stock price shown is from HIMS & HERS, an online doctor’s operation listed on the NYSE. We have made a detailed post on how US telehealth companies, including HIMS, are registering in regulatory loopholes to continue selling a popular version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, aka Semaglutide, despite its emergency expiration date to alleviate the shortage of weight loss injections.
Before the exemption expired, HIMS pivoted to selling semaglutide at non-standard doses and used an online registration questionnaire to determine whether patients wanted to vomit.
Meanwhile, Novo had agreed to a supply deal with HIMS and some of its large rivals. The idea was to give existing semaglutide patients branded Wegovy from on-ramp. Resale of the brand never became a big money spinner for HIMS, but some in the market read it as a ceasefire signal.
However, Novo’s legal threats were not escaped. The custom dose formulation remained red lines for NOVO management. And today the line crossed:
Novo Nordisk is HIMS & HERS Health, Inc. The collaboration with the company is over.
•Over one month collaboration ended based on false promotions and sales of an unlawful imitation version of Wegovy® that puts patient safety at risk.
Novo Nordisk will not halt its actions to protect Americans from the dangers of illegal foreign active pharmaceutical ingredients in knock-off drugs
•We will continue to strive for authentic FDA approved WeGovy®, available directly through NOVOCARE® pharmacies, to select telehealth organizations that share a commitment to safe and effective healthcare for patients suffering from chronic illnesses.
HIMS has never given clear guidance on how much future revenues are from personalized semaglutid jabs. The company says it can direct current and future weight loss patients to oral drug prescriptions bundled into subscription packages that contain healthy diet and breeding advice. However, Morgan Stanley estimated that “personalized” compounds account for HIMS’ 2025 weight loss revenue target of $725 million.
The strength of Novo’s statement is currently filing the prospects for a short-trial lawsuit to boost what is possible for broad abuse of drug personalization regulations.
Last week, MS analysts reported they had returned from a tour of the combined pharmacy. This suggested that many pharmacies would slow production of Wegovy clones. As reported in May, production requires a lot of paperwork as you need to create custom compounds for individual prescriptions and cannot be pre-built in batches.
Leadership at one facility commented that of 15 combined pharmacies operating in more than 30 states, they were one of three that stopped combined semaglutide. (…)
Despite published rules and regulations, the industry is not working in black and white spaces where you can watch key areas of “personalization” and IP protection.
Both operators we visited hired legal counselors to advise them on risks related to false marketing or claims of patent infringement. (…) To avoid legal action, compounding pharmacies requires extensive documentation from prescribers in the case of regulatory audits. There are also many political parties involved in sourcing and repackaging of (active pharmaceutical ingredients) primarily derived from China.
The pharmacy operators were also concerned about the number of telehealth companies, MS noted. Customer acquisition costs are rising, and patient safety checks can be compromised, especially if there are proposals that ban consumer ad-driven companies that drive prescription volumes in other ways.
One operator warned that DTC strategies from drug manufacturers could be damaged. This cuts out of the loop the pharmacist who otherwise gains greater insight into the patient (including subtle medical history and drug interactions).
There is a ripple effect of group margins as HIMS’s later-time personalized semaglutide sales is zero, reducing cross-selling routes to the highest spending customers.
This is why Hims shares closed near record highs Monday, as industry checks appear to support Novo’s concerns and Novo doesn’t keep their litigation intentions a secret. However, if the inventory is a push-pull between about a fifth of the hedge funds on loan, it is probably an inevitable side effect of occasional nausea.
Read more:
– Novo Nordisk finishes hiss & hers copycat wegovy drugs (ft)
