Novo Nordisk To Partner With Hims & Hers To Sell Weight-Loss Drugs: Report

According to J.P. Morgan, the market for weight-loss drugs will become one of the biggest and fastest-growing in healthcare.

• Novo Nordisk is reportedly set to partner with telehealth firm Hims & Hers to sell its weight-loss drugs on the platform.
• Novo previously ended a similar partnership last year after Hims continued selling compounded weight-loss drugs.
• Shares of Novo rose more than 2% in after-hours trading, while Hims surged nearly 40% and trended No. 1 on Stocktwits.

Novo Nordisk A/S will reportedly work with telehealth company Hims & Hers Health Inc. to sell its weight-loss drugs on the platform.

According to a Bloomberg report, the partnership could be made public as early as Monday. The reported partnership comes almost a month after Novo sued Hims for patent infringement related to Hims's short-lived $49 copy of Novo's obesity pill in February.

Novo had already ended a similar partnership with Hims last year because the telehealth company wouldn't stop selling and marketing compounded versions of weight-loss drugs. 

Novo claimed Hims' products violated U.S. patents for the active ingredient in the popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. According to the report, Novo's general counsel, John Kuckelman, said that Hims' move was "egregious." However, despite the legal feud, Novo seemed ready to get back into the game. 

HIMs Rallies Nearly 40%

Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) was up over 2% in after-hours. On Socktwits, retail sentiment around NVO remained in ‘neutral’ territory, as chatter remained in ‘low’ levels over the past day. However, Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (HIMS) was up nearly 40% in after-hours. On Stocktwits, it was trending at number 1, as retail sentiment improved from ‘bearish’ to ‘bullish’ over the past day. The chatter levels around HIMS improved from ‘extremely low’ to ‘low’ over the past day. 

Weight-Loss Drug Demand To Reach 25M Americans By 2030

Telehealth companies like Hims did very well when there weren't enough weight-loss injections, selling mixed versions of the drugs. Even though supply problems have largely disappeared, some companies are still offering modified formulations to set themselves apart from brand-name products.

J.P. Morgan sees the weight-loss drug market becoming one of the biggest and fastest-growing in healthcare. This is due to new oral pills, greater insurance coverage, and a larger global supply. The banks think that demand for GLP-1 drugs will skyrocket, with about 25 million Americans expected to be on these drugs by 2030.

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