Mass marketing vs. mass production

The big news this week was Novo Nordisk and Hims & Hers reaching a deal to end their dispute over Hims’ sale of compounded semaglutide. And that decision may have quietly answered a question that’s been nagging at us.

You’ll recall that FDA commissioner Makary’s recent statement took aim at what he called “mass marketing” of compounded GLP-1s, a word choice that struck us as odd. Why marketing, and not, say, production?

The Novo/Hims deal offers a possible answer. Under the agreement, Novo is dropping its patent infringement lawsuit – the only GLP-1 related patent suit we’d seen – and Hims agreed to stop advertising compounded GLP-1 products. Crucially, though, Hims can still dispense compounded GLP-1s when a provider determines a compounded product is clinically necessary.

As APC’s Scott Brunner noted on LinkedIn, this suggests Novo’s real bone to pick with Hims wasn’t about compounding, but rather aggressive advertising. “Whether Dr. Makary’s [concern] is indeed the same bone as Novo’s remains to be seen,” Brunner wrote, but the parallel is hard to ignore.

As for Novo’s patent lawsuit against Him? It’s been withdrawn. For now. Novo reserved the right to refile, so don’t stray too far from this space.