NEW YORK, February 5, 2026 – Novo Nordisk, teh pharmaceutical giant behind the blockbuster weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is facing a serious challenge to its dominance. Shares of the company plummeted Thursday after Hims & Hers announced a significantly cheaper option to Wegovy,available for as little as $49 a month.
Hims & Hers’ Affordable Wegovy Alternative Sparks Legal Threat
novo Nordisk vows legal action over a lower-cost compounded version of its popular weight-loss drug.
- Novo Nordisk is suing Hims & Hers over the telehealth company’s new, cheaper Wegovy alternative.
- The dispute centers on “compounding,” a practice where pharmacies create custom drug formulations.
- Novo Nordisk’s stock initially fell nearly 8 percent following Hims & Hers’ announcement.
- Eli Lilly is emerging as a major competitor, with its Zepbound surpassing Wegovy in clinical trials.
- Novo Nordisk recently released a pill version of Wegovy, but Lilly is expected to follow suit.
Novo Nordisk responded swiftly, vowing to take legal and regulatory action against Hims & hers. “The action by Hims & Hers is illegal mass compounding that poses a meaningful risk to patient safety,” the company stated, adding that it will “protect patients, our intellectual property and the integrity of the US gold-standard drug approval framework.” Novo Nordisk also accused Hims & Hers of a “historic behavior of duping the American public with knock-off GLP-1 products,” and noted prior FDA warnings about compounded drugs.
The legal battle comes as the market for GLP-1 receptor agonists – a class of drugs initially developed for diabetes but now widely used for weight loss – heats up. Eli Lilly’s Zepbound has demonstrated superior weight loss results in clinical trials compared to Wegovy, and the company is poised to capitalize on Novo Nordisk’s challenges. Over the past year,Eli Lilly’s stock has surged,nearly a decade,while Eli Lilly projects continued growth,pushing its market capitalization above $1 trillion.
Novo Nordisk has attempted to regain ground with the january release of a pill version of Wegovy, touted as more accessible and less intimidating than injections. CEO mike Doustdar claimed the pill is selling 15 times faster than the injectable version did in its first month, per the NOW. Though,this advantage might potentially be short-lived,as Eli Lilly is expected to launch its own pill later this year.
The FDA also weighed in on Thursday, vowing to crack down on “illegal copycat drugs,” a move that briefly boosted Novo Nordisk’s stock by over 5 percent.Though, Hims & Hers’ stock nosedived by ten percent in after-hours trading, according to Reuters,and remains down by over 2 percent as of today.
Novo Nordisk previously estimated that approximately one million Americans were using semaglutide knockoffs and appealed to the US government to restrict imports of key ingredients used in thes formulations.
What are GLP-1s and why are they so popular? These drugs, initially developed for diabetes, have gained widespread attention for their effectiveness in promoting weight loss by mimicking a natural hormone that regulates appetite.
People Who Go Off GLP-1s Are Experiencing a Sudden and terrible Hunger
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