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A line chart that tracks Hims & Hers Health stock price daily from May 27 to June 23, 2025. Prices rose from $53.36 to a peak of $64.22 on June 20, then dropped sharply to $41.98 by June 23, as a result of a broken Novo Nordisk partnership selling Wegovy.

Hims & Hers Health stock price

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals

The dissolution of Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers' partnership to sell Wegovy may boost business for telehealth providers Ro and LifeMD.

Why it matters: The way Novo broke up with Hims could do as much damage as the breakup itself, which dropped Hims stock more than 34% Monday.

What they're saying: The FDA discouraging compounded versions gives telehealth providers that sell brand name GLP-1 drugs an open lane.

"If you're [LifeMD and Ro], yes, it's good news, because your major competitor is now taking a big prestige hit," West Monroe director Michael Schnell tells Axios.

"We feel the companies that we are working with have demonstrated a good faith effort to transition patients to authentic, FDA-approved Wegovy," a Novo spokesperson tells Axios Pro.

LifeMD is seeing "continued success" helping patients buy Novo products, a spokesperson says. Ro didn't respond to a request for comment.

The big picture: Big Pharma is trying to protect their brand name diabetes and weight loss medications against often cheaper, compounded versions.

The FDA previously allowed the production of compounded, or "personalized," versions during a name brand drug shortage but began phasing out the practice earlier this year.

"It's probably no shock from a timeline perspective that Novo gave it 30 days since the FDA said compounders have to stop selling this way, and then they announced cancellation," Schnell says. "It was May 22 that the FDA said, 'No more of this method.' And then it's June 23 on a Monday morning that Novo cancels."

The other side: Hims CEO Andrew Dudum wrote in an X post that the company is "disappointed" to see Novo "misleading the public."

"In recent weeks, Novo Nordisk's commercial team increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy regardless of whether it was clinically best for patients," Dudum wrote.

"[Hims has] been very transparent to Wall Street that these compounding medications are high-margin, and therefore a core part of their growth story," Schnell says.

"A personalized dose, with a lower price tag, may be clinically appropriate and more affordable to many members," BTIG analyst David Larsen writes in a note. 

Flashback: At Axios' Future of Health Summit in May, Hims chief medical officer Jessica Shepherd said the company gives consumers "autonomy" to choose compounded GLP-1s over branded versions.

"This is how health care should work," she said. "We're giving you the education, the information for you to make an informed decision."

That followed STAT reporting on how Hims pushes its "personalized dose," or a compounded version, over the commercially available version.

What we're watching: If and how the FDA responds to Novo's allegations that Hims' compounding strategy is an "illegal sham."

"It's a gray zone that the FDA needs to quickly clarify," Schnell says.

The FDA did not respond to Axios' request for comment.

Novo Nordisk dropping Hims could boost other GLP-1 providers

Novo will continue partnerships with Ro and LifeMD.

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Novo Nordisk dropping Hims could boost other GLP-1 providers

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