Just two days after launching a copycat version Wegovy’s new weight-loss pill, Hims & Hers Health Inc. said it will stop selling the drug.
The announcement comes a day after the US Food and Drug Administration said it was cracking down on copycat weight-loss treatments, like those sold by Hims.
After having “constructive conversations with stakeholders,” Hims decided to stop offering the treatment, the company said in a post on X Saturday.
Hims on Thursday announced plans to sell a cheaper version of Novo Nordisk A/S’s new Wegovy weight-loss pill. The drugmaker, which is pinning its comeback on the new pill, called the move illegal and threatened to take action.
Analysts had hailed the new Wegovy pill as one of the most successful drug launches in recent years — a badly needed win for the company.
The next day, the FDA announced its investigation. The Department of Health and Human Services also said it referred Hims to the Department of Justice for possible violations of federal law.
Read More: FDA Targets Copycat Weight Loss Drugs in Blow to Hims & Hers
A representatives for Novo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FDA declined to comment.
The makers of blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, Novo and Eli Lilly & Co., have long complained the FDA hasn’t done enough to stop the proliferation of cheap, compounded weight-loss drugs. This is the first time Hims has stopped selling a knockoff version after a company complaint.
Read More: Hims Won’t Back Down From Its Fight With Big Pharma
Telehealth companies were first able to sell knock-off weight-loss drugs during a supply shortage a few years ago. The shortage has ended, but the practice has continued.
Hims and Novo have had longstanding friction over the issue. Last year, the companies were supposed to team up on selling discounted weight-loss shots, but they ended the partnership months later, in part, over the compounding issue.
“We had an agreement that the mass compounding would stop and unfortunately it didn’t stop,” Ludovic Helfgott, executive vice president of product and portfolio strategy at Novo, said at the time.
The Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said he wouldn’t “cave” to the pharmaceutical company’s demands over copycat weight loss drugs.
“There’s just no way in hell,” he said.
