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The epic, months-long GLP-1 feud between Novo Nordisk and telehealth firm Hims & Hers Health appears to be coming to a surprising end, with both companies reportedly set to announce, as soon as Monday, a new partnership that would allow the Danish drugmaker to sell Wegovy through HIMS’ platform.

Bloomberg published the report late Friday, stating:

Novo Nordisk A/S plans to sell its weight-loss drugs on Hims & Hers Health Inc.’s platform, according to a person familiar with the matter…

Novo and Hims plan to announce a new partnership as soon as Monday, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The two companies had a similar agreement last year, but Novo abruptly scrapped it after Hims refused to stop marketing and selling copycat medications.

The move is very surprising because NOVO sued HIMS just last month over a copycat Wegovy pill and patent infringement tied to Ozempic and Wegovy. Even the head of the FDA recently stated that telehealth firms were put on notice about copycat GLP-1s.

“There is no other way to describe the Hims news as both a surprise and an unabashed positive for Hims’ stock,” Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny wrote in a note to clients.

NOVO ADRs rose 2% in after-hours trading on Friday following the report, while HIMS shares surged nearly 40%. The new partnership would effectively end the GLP-1 feud between the two companies.

“We get the rationale for Novo here,” Cherny added. “The company has been looking to add as many partners as it can to drive market reach, including other digital pharmacies and CVS.”

The rationale for why the feud ended will likely be explained by NOVO executives and/or HIMS executives on Monday morning, if the Bloomberg report is correct. It’s clear that the feud’s end was likely tied to the terrible year-to-date performance of both companies (data below as of close on Friday).

NOVO’s willingness to partner with HIMS (again) comes as its new GLP-1 pill has yet to help it gain the momentum to acquire enough new market share to reverse the stock plunge amid a highly competitive obesity space. Additionally, the new CEO is under pressure from investors to reverse the multi-year stock plunge and to offer hope amid a recently dismal outlook for the year.

Also this week, Novo’s biggest bull, Goldman analyst James Quigley, downgraded the stock from “Buy” to “Hold.” Quigley’s full note can be viewed here and is available to pro subs. How long until Quigley reverses this call?

With the feud now apparently over, here is our past reporting:

We noted on X:

It’s worth noting that HIMS’ float is 39.65% short, or 81 million shares.

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