Telehealth company Hims & Hers dropped its plan to offer a knockoff version of the weight-loss pill Wegovy on Saturday — two days after it announced the new drug and one day after the Food and Drug Administration threatened to restrict access to the ingredients needed to copy popular weight-loss medications.
Hims had said Thursday that it would offer a compounded version of the new Wegovy pill that drugmaker Novo Nordisk just began selling last month. Novo immediately threatened to sue Hims, and then the FDA said Friday that it plans to take decisive steps to limit access to the active ingredients in popular GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound.
Hims' own website still touted the new semaglutide pill offering Saturday afternoon — hours after it announced on X that it will no longer sell the medicine. Semaglutide is the chemical name for Wegovy.
“Since launching the compounded semaglutide pill on our platform, we’ve had constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry. As a result, we have decided to stop offering access to this treatment,” Hims said in its statement. “We remain committed to the millions of Americans who depend on us for access to safe, affordable, and personalized care.”
Hims didn’t say Saturday whether it will make any changes to the compounded versions of injectable weight-loss medications it has been selling as a result of the FDA action.
The San Francisco-based company had planned to significantly undercut Novo's price of $149 per month for the Wegovy pill by selling its version at $49 for the first month and $99 per month thereafter. Hims and other similar companies got started several years ago by offering cheap generic versions of drugs for hair loss, erectile dysfunction and other health issues before branching out into the multibillion market for obesity medications.
Novo plans to tout its new FDA-approved Wegovy pill in a celebrity-filled Super Bowl ad on Sunday. The Danish pharmaceutical giant didn't immediately comment Saturday on Hims' decision to drop the knockoff. Rival drugmaker Eli Lilly has said that it expects the FDA to approve an oral version of its orforglipron weight loss medication later this spring. But Wegovy is the first pill to hit the market.
The compounded medicine that Hims had planned to sell wasn't approved and had not gone through trials to demonstrate that it would be effective.
The FDA permits specialty pharmacies and other companies to make compounded versions of brand name drugs when they are in short supply. And the booming demand for GLP-1 drugs in recent years prompted companies like Hims to jump into the multibillion-dollar market for the drugs, with many patients willing to pay cash.
In 2024, the FDA said that GLP-1 drugs were no longer in a shortage, which was expected to put an end to the compounding. But companies like Hims relied on an exception to keep selling their versions of the medications because the practice is still permitted when a prescription is customized for the patient.
FILE - This photo shows Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on Feb. 5, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)
MILAN (AP) — All eyes will be on Lindsey Vonn at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday, when the 41-year-old American goes for gold in the women's downhill just nine days after tearing the ACL in her left knee.
Here is a guide of what to look out for on Day 2:
Viewers around the world can watch on official broadcasters, including NBC and streaming on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms.
Vonn will compete with a large brace covering her injured knee. Her other knee was surgically repaired with a partial titanium replacement in 2024. She crashed during the final World Cup downhill before the Olympics. She said her ACL is “100% gone” but she has completed two training runs ahead of Sunday's race in Cortina.
Vonn has plenty of competition for podium spots. Sofia Goggia is the 2018 Olympic champion who took silver in Beijing four years ago. Goggia had the honor of lighting the cauldron in Cortina to conclude Friday’s opening ceremony.
Germany's Emma Aicher won a World Cup downhill in mid-December at St. Mortiz, Switzerland, just ahead of Vonn. Other contenders include Federica Brignone (Italy), Corinne Suter (Switzerland), Cornelia Huetter (Austria), and Alice Robinson (New Zealand).
The race is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT, 5:30 a.m. ET).
Up at the snow park in Livigno, Ester Ledecka, the dual threat ski and snowboard racer from the Czech Republic, can pull off a feat that Shaun White, Chloe Kim and the rest of the greatest snowboarders have never done.
She’s trying to become the first snowboarder to win three straight Olympic gold medals.
Ledecka will be lining up in the parallel giant slalom, the closest thing to Alpine racing that snowboarding has.
She knows about making history. In 2018, she won the PGS a few days after taking the super-G in Alpine skiing, making her the first (and still only) athlete to win gold in both a ski and snowboard event.
Kim will also have an opportunity for three straight on the halfpipe, but that doesn’t come until next Thursday.
The qualification round starts in the morning and the finals section is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time (1200 GMT, 7 a.m. ET).
Madison Chock and Evan Bates had a brilliant free skate Saturday night to give the U.S. a five-point lead over Japan heading into the final day of competition in the figure skating team event.
The men’s, women’s and pairs free skates on Sunday will decide the medals. It begins at 7:30 p.m. local time (1830 GMT, 1:30 p.m. ET).
There are also medal events in biathlon, luge, skiathlon and speedskating.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
FILE -Gold medal winner Ester Ledecka, of the Czech Republic, celebrates after the women's parallel giant slalom at Phoenix Snow Park at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
United States' Lindsey Vonn in action during alpine ski women's downhill training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
United States' Lindsey Vonn smiles during a press conference by the U.S. ski team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
United States cross country athletes, from left, Novie McCabe, Jessie Diggins, Sammy Smith, Julia Kern, Rosie Brennan and Hayiley Swirlbul pose for photos before a cross country training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Tesero, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
United States' Hayley Scamurra, left, celebrates after scoring her side's fifth goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between United States and Czechia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Switzerland's Marco Odermatt reacts at the finish area of an alpine ski, men's downhill official training, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Bormio, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Ilia Malinin, of the United States, practices during a figure skating training session ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
