Novo Nordisk A/S said it’s suing Hims & Hers Health Inc. for making knock-offs of its obesity medicines, even as Hims scrapped plans to sell a copycat version of the Wegovy pill.
Hims is breaching the U.S. patent on semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo’s blockbuster obesity treatments, Novo argued Monday. The U.S. lawsuit attacks not only Hims’s new strategy to launch a copycat pill but also goes after shots that mimic Wegovy and its sister drug Ozempic.
The move marks a more aggressive approach for Novo under Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar. Until now, the drugmaker’s legal strategy focused on the way that companies like Hims market their products. Novo said it’s the first time it has sued over patent infringement for compounded semaglutide.
The decision escalates Novo’s spat with Hims despite the U.S. platform’s retreat on Saturday, when it said it would stop offering cheaper versions of the new Wegovy pill meant to fuel the Danish drugmaker’s comeback.
The Hims decision to launch a knock-off Wegovy pill was “a step too far,” John Kuckelman, general counsel at Novo, said in an interview. “Last week’s announcement was egregious and it was definitely a tipping point.”
The two companies scrapped a partnership last year and their relationship has grown increasingly acrimonious. Novo said its medicines are produced in accordance with FDA requirements, following strict safety controls, in contrast to the Hims ones.
The Novo lawsuit is “a blatant attack by a Danish company on millions of Americans who rely on compounded medications for access to personalized care,” Hims said in a statement. “Once again, Big Pharma is weaponizing the U.S. judicial system to limit consumer choice.” The company pledged to fight to provide “choice, affordability, and access.”
Hims shares fell 21% in trading before U.S. exchanges opened. Novo surged as much as 9% on Monday after Hims scrapped the Wegovy pill copycats. It pared gains after the lawsuit was announced.
Patient Health
“Hims has engaged in promotional campaigns that highlight its compounded semaglutide products, duping consumers and health-care professionals as to the clinical benefits and safety of these unapproved drugs,” Novo said in a statement. The knock-offs, it argued, “are putting patient health and wellbeing at risk.”
The lawsuit, which Novo said it filed in Delaware, alleges that Hims products including its weight-loss injections are compounded forms of semaglutide and therefore infringe on Novo’s patent.
Hims had knowledge of the patent, which has been infringed since 2024, Novo argues. The company is seeking damages for what Kuckelman described as “reasonable royalties” and lost profit. The drugmaker said it had sent a letter to Hims on Feb. 8 raising the infringement and demanding the telehealth company cease producing these products.
The lawsuit follows a turbulent week for Novo. First it issued a dire sales forecast for the year in contrast to rival Eli Lilly & Co., then the stock was hit by the news that Hims was selling a cheaper knock-off of its crucial new Wegovy pill.
Supply Shortage
Hims abandoned the plan over the weekend following U.S. government threats. The decision didn’t stop Novo from launching the case, whose scope extends beyond the pill to all uses of semaglutide, which is also injected.
Novo has seen its market capitalization fall from more than $600 billion in 2024, when it was briefly the most valuable company in Europe, to about $227 billion.
The makers of blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, Novo and Lilly, have long complained the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t done enough to stop the proliferation of cheap, compounded weight-loss drugs. Telehealth companies were first able to sell knock-off obesity medicines during a supply shortage a few years ago. The shortage has ended, but the practice has continued.
“We believe it’s a complete sham that they say so many patients need personalized compounding of semaglutide post shortage,” Kuckelman said.
Novo is trying to work with compounders to get them to sell the branded products, according to Kuckelman. “But unfortunately, you have Hims, which is a very big player, who rather than doing the right thing, they’ve just decided that they’re above the law and they can continue to sort of thumb their nose at the FDA and other regulators,” he said.
The FDA on Friday pledged to act against copycat weight-loss drugs. The Department of Health and Human Services also said it referred Hims to the Department of Justice for possible violations of federal law. The FDA’s firmer stance comes after Novo and Lilly agreed to cut prices in deals with the U.S. government.
Top photo: A box of Wegovy pills arranged at a pharmacy. Photographer: George Frey/Bloomberg.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
Want to stay up to date?
Get the latest insurance news
sent straight to your inbox.
