MW Hims & Hers stock nears one-year low amid battle over compounded Wegovy pill

By Jaimy Lee

The company this week also said it's selling a cancer-detection test that's featured in its Super Bowl ad

Hims & Hers Health is set to run a Super Bowl ad this Sunday.

Hims & Hers Health's stock was on track to close Friday at its lowest level in more than one year, as the company wraps up a turbulent week in which it sidestepped the regulatory process to launch a cheaper compounded version of the Wegovy weight-loss pill.

The Hims & Hers $(HIMS)$ version of the drug costs $49 per month to get started. That's $100 less a month than the cost of starting Wegovy currently.

After the Hims & Hers launch on Wednesday, Novo Nordisk's stock (NVO) tumbled 13.8% in two days, while rival weight-loss-drug manufacturer Eli Lilly's shares $(LLY)$ also took a hit. Novo had threatened a lawsuit before the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration stepped in - saying Thursday that the regulator "will take swift action against companies mass-marketing illegal copycat drugs, claiming they are similar to FDA-approved products."

Novo's stock bounced 9.1% on Friday. Hims & Hers shares were down about 2% on Friday afternoon and headed for their lowest close since November 2024. They have declined 15% over the last five days.

"This time Hims took it one step too far," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Prakhar Agrawal told investors in video commentary Friday. "There is already a lot of public pressure on Hims to remove this drug. Lilly and Novo will use all their might to litigate, and I don't think Hims will be able to market this drug."

There are two key differences with this turn in the compounding saga.

For one, the Wegovy pill is not in short supply, according to the FDA, and that's one of the gaps that compounding pharmacies can legally step in to fill.

Novo is also using a specific type of technology in the official Wegovy pill to aid absorption of notoriously tricky peptides like GLP-1. Back in 2020, Novo spent $1.8 billion to acquire Emisphere Technologies, which developed the salcaprozate sodium (SNAC) technology that allows the oral version of semaglutide to be absorbed, and not destroyed, in the stomach.

Hims has said its version uses "liposomal technology," which a spokesperson for Novo called "an untested delivery mechanism that lacks supporting evidence and has never been reviewed by FDA."

As of Friday afternoon, Hims & Hers continued to list the compounded version of the Wegovy pill on its website.

It's a big week for Hims, which launched a cancer-detection test and has a Super Bowl advertisement that is set to run on Sunday. The ad features the cancer-detection test and generally mentions GLP-1s, though the spot itself is a commentary on the wealthy's access to better healthcare.

"The wealth gap is a health gap," the rapper Common says in the ad, later adding: "The rich have healthcare that comes to them. Custom formulated peptides, specialists on call, and preventative care before they need it. They get the best of everything. So why don't you?"

Hims & Hers stock is down 43% over the last year.

-Jaimy Lee

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February 06, 2026 15:29 ET (20:29 GMT)

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