:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-1339400988-01160850566a468d80077a40db248953.jpg "Hims & Hers Health shares slump as Eli Lilly offers cheaper weight-loss product")
Hims & Hers Health shares slump as Eli Lilly offers cheaper weight-loss product
Key findings
- Hims & Hers Health shares fell Tuesday after Eli Lilly said it would offer a cheaper version of its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound.
- Lilly said the new product will be shipped directly to consumers.
- Hims & Hers recently started offering a copycat version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic, and plans to offer one for Zepbound in the near future.
Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) shares fell in intraday trading Tuesday due to new competition for cheaper weight-loss drugs from Eli Lilly (LLY).
Lilly announced that the company would sell the two lowest doses of its popular injectable obesity drug Zepbound in single-use vials that patients could measure themselves.
Lilly said these would cost half the cost of the prefilled vials currently prescribed. In addition, the drug would be shipped through the company’s self-pay channel, LillyDirect, to allow those who are not eligible for Zepbound’s savings program or do not have health insurance to afford it.
Hims & Hers offers discounted copies of popular medications
That was bad news for Hims & Hers Health, which sells direct-to-consumer copycat prescription drugs at discounted prices. In May, the company began selling an injectable with the same main ingredient found in Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) popular weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Hims & Hers also stated in its recent earnings call that the company plans to launch a program similar to Zepbound “in the near future.”
Hims & Hers Health shares fell 7% to $15.08 as of 11:15 a.m. ET Tuesday, but are still up nearly 70% year-to-date.
