Hims & Hers Faces Backlash Over Provocative Super Bowl Ad

 Hims & Hers Health (HIMS), a compounding pharmacy that makes a knockoff version of Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Wegovy, might not be out of hot water yet. On Friday, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) sent a letter to acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Sarah Brenner asking the agency to investigate Hims for "misleading patients."

Novo's ad for Wegovy spends about 40 seconds of its 90-second run time spelling out possible side effects of the weight-loss drug. The Hims ad, on the other hand, doesn't include any warnings and just flashes "in small, barely legible font" that its product isn't FDA approved," the senators wrote.

"We recognize the important roles that pharmaceutical compounding and telehealth play in the health care delivery system, helping to ensure access to FDA-approved products and filling a need for more customized treatments," they said. "However, we believe there should be no disparity in pharmaceutical advertising requirements between regulated entities."

Hims stock jumped 5.1%, closing at 42.55. Shares broke out of a cup base with a buy point at 35.02 on Jan. 31, according to MarketSurge. Shares are now trading in a profit-taking zone, which runs from 42.02 to 43.78.

Hims Stock: Calling Out Pharma Players

Hims & Hers makes a compounded version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and type 2 diabetes drug, Ozempic. It can do this because the FDA has determined semaglutide is in shortage.

But the senators say the ad for compounded semaglutide "glaringly [omits] critical safety and side effect information."

Drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide — the chemical backbone behind Eli Lilly's (LLY) Zepbound and Mounjaro — are well known for causing gastrointestinal side effects. But other less known potential adverse effects pancreatitis, gallbladder and kidney problems, vision changes and thoughts of suicide.

The Hims ad doesn't go into any of that.

Over Childish Gambino's antiracism chorus "This is America," the commercial calls out the pharma industry, without specifically naming Novo and Lilly.

"There are medications that work," a narrator says. "But they're priced for profits, not patients. This system wasn't built to help us. It was built to keep us sick and stuck."

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