Novo Nordisk A/S

Hims & Hers struck a deal with Eli Lilly to offer the drugmaker’s branded obesity treatments through its online health and wellness platform. Under the agreement, Eli Lilly will give Hims & Hers pharmacies direct access to its U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved GLP-1 medications at self-pay prices. Eligible patients on the Hims & Hers platform can be prescribed and order Eli Lilly's injectable Zepbound (tirzepatide) and daily oral medication Foundayo (orforglipron) without leaving the company's platform. Prior to this agreement, Lilly drugs were available to patients on Hims & Hers only if they left the site and went to Lilly's direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect. Shares of Hims & Hers jumped 8% Friday following news of the Eli Lilly partnership. The agreement brings together Lilly’s obesity medicines and Hims & Hers’ consumer platform to expand consumers' access to FDA-approved weight loss drugs, the companies said. "Patients can complete a consultation, receive a prescription if their provider determines it is appropriate and have an FDA-approved Lilly medicine shipped directly to their home, all in one seamless experience," the companies said in a press release. Self-pay pricing starts at $149 per month for Foundayo and $299 per month for Zepbound. "At Lilly, we are always looking for new ways to help more people get the medicines they need, and that means meeting patients where they already are," said Ilya Yuffa, executive vice president and president, Lilly USA and global customer capabilities, Eli Lilly and Company, in a statement. "Millions of people turn to Hims & Hers for their care, and through this agreement, those patients now have a simple, more direct way to get FDA-approved Lilly medicine at an affordable price if prescribed." Hims & Hers' technology platform supports provider outreach, follow-up care and treatment planning. Weight loss patients on Hims & Hers receive a membership experience that includes 24/7 access to a care team, nutrition guidance, regular clinical check-ins and access to the Hims & Hers Weight Loss community, according to the company. The agreement with Eli Lilly mirrors Hims & Hers' partnership with Novo Nordisk, which has been selling its branded weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic through Hims & Hers since March. Novo had previously sued the telehealth company for offering compounded versions of its medications. Hims & Hers' agreement with Novo marked a shift in its obesity strategy toward FDA-approved branded GLP-1 treatments and away from cheaper compounded GLP-1 drugs. Earlier this year, Hims & Hers took heat from the pharmaceutical manufacturer and federal regulators after announcing plans to launch a knockoff of Novo's oral pill. It backed down from those plans under pressure. Hims & Hers stated that it never offered access to compounded copies of Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs and has committed not to do so in the future. As part of the agreement, the companies have committed to protecting independent clinical decision-making, so that providers on the Hims & Hers platform continue to prescribe the treatment they determine is right for each patient. “Lilly is one of the most innovative pharmaceutical companies in history, and I’m incredibly proud that Hims & Hers is a part of making sure more people can access the medicines they’ve created,” said Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO of Hims & Hers, in a statement. “By working together, we’re not just reaching more people with obesity with seamless, personal access to FDA-approved Lilly medicine. We’re showing the industry what innovators can achieve for customers everywhere when we work together to make the world well.” Hims & Hers has faced financial pressure as it shifts from high-margin compounded GLP-1s to lower-margin branded weight-loss drugs. The company posted a $92 million loss in Q1, including $33 million in restructuring costs, largely from write-downs of its compounded GLP-1 supply chain, which executives said faced “risk of obsolescence.” In Q2, Hims & Hers reported an $86 million loss, compared with a $43 million profit a year earlier. The quarter included $81 million in one-time costs, including expenses tied to its exit from compounded GLP-1s.

Eli Lilly has successfully challenged Good Life Meds’ claims about the health benefits and personalization of a compounded tirzepatide product. Lilly, which sells the GLP-1/GIP drug tirzepatide as Mounjaro and Zepbound, challenged the telehealth provider’s claims through BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD). The drugmaker, the only provider of FDA-approved tirzepatide products, disputed Good Life’s claims about the effect of the compounded drug on body weight, blood sugar, energy and lean muscle. After assessing Good Life’s response to the challenge, the NAD recommended that the company stop making the express health benefit and personalization claims challenged by Lilly and modify its ads to remove unsupported implied claims about safety, efficacy and personalization. Good Life's response to Lilly’s challenge included substantial clinical literature on tirzepatide, information about additive ingredients and real-world evidence, including a Gallup survey and retrospective cohort studies. Yet the NAD found the literature largely concerned Lilly's FDA-approved products. Neither the Gallup survey nor the cohort studies examined Good Life's compounded tirzepatide, the NAD said. Given those limitations, the NAD ruled that Good Life lacked a reasonable basis for the challenged express health-benefit claims. The NAD recommended that Good Life avoid conveying unsupported claims that its compounded drug is safe and effective for the challenged benefits and offers significant efficacy and weight-loss results. Good Life voluntarily and permanently discontinued some express and implied claims during the inquiry. The claims related to clinical results, benefits, ingredients, safety and the sourcing of compounded tirzepatide. In its advertiser statement, Good Life said it disagrees with many aspects of the NAD’s decision but will comply with the recommendations. The case is the latest in a series of challenges that Lilly and Novo have brought against companies providing compounded copies of their GLP-1 drugs. Lilly won a case against Noom in May, and over the past year Novo has successfully challenged claims made by Fletcher Family Medical Center , Regen Doctors and Willow Health Services .

Novo has officially pulled the plug on its collaboration with Korro Bio following a 12-month pause that began in November last year. The agreement signed in 2024 was potentially worth up to $530 million and was focused on the development of RNA editing candidates against two previously undruggable targets applicable to cardiometabolic diseases.Work under the collaboration, which was utilising Korro's Oligonucleotide Promoted Editing of RNA (OPERA) platform, was halted 12 months ago, with the biotech explaining at the time that this would allow "the rationale for the current target under the first research programme" to be reassessed.However, Korro disclosed in a Nov. 5 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that Novo has now provided written notice to terminate the agreement, which will end on Feb. 1 next year. The biotech noted that Novo had not nominated a second target under the collaboration.While Korro received a $10-million upfront payment as part of the deal, and was reimbursed for some R&D costs, it had not earned any further milestones.