- Hims & Hers Health announced plans to expand to Canada in 2026.
- Hims will offer generic copies of semaglutide drugs in Canada as Novo Nordisk loses patent protection.
- Novo Nordisk will lose its patent protection on its branded semaglutide drugs Ozempic and Wegovy in Canada after not paying a maintenance fee in 2019.
Since Novo Nordisk’s patent on its branded medications, Ozempic and Wegovy, is scheduled to expire in January, Hims & Hers Health said on Wednesday that it will begin selling generic semaglutide in Canada.
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“Canada is a huge chance to demonstrate what high-quality, reasonably priced weight loss care can look like,” said Andrew Dudum, CEO and co-founder of Hims & Hers, in a press statement. “As generic semaglutide becomes available for the first time globally, we’re focused on making it truly accessible, by combining affordability with trusted, personalized care at scale.”
A telemedicine platform called Hims has joined the rising number of pharmaceutical companies attempting to profit from Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 patent that has expired. The business will be operating in Canada for the first time.
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In essence, generics are identical versions of a brand-name medication, such as Wegovy or Ozempic, that meet the same safety requirements, have the same effectiveness, and are permitted after a patent expires. These pharmaceuticals are not the same as compounded versions, which are customized therapies that differ from commercially available doses or have distinct forms.
Grand View Research, a market research firm, projects that the Canadian semaglutide market will earn $4.03 billion by 2035, up from $1.18 billion in 2024.
Although the Canadian Health Agency has not yet approved a generic form of semaglutide for sale, some companies in the market have started the approval procedure.
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Early in June, Sandoz, a world leader in the production of generic medications, informed Science that it had submitted an application to Health Canada, Canada’s regulatory body, seeking approval of a generic form of semaglutide. In its release, Hims stated that it is working with “an approved partner” to make sure it is adhering to all local rules and regulations, but it did not specify if it has begun a comparable application for review.
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Wegovy has lost momentum to Eli Lilly’s competing medication, Zepbound, in the United States, and some industry insiders are worried about Novo allowing its patent to expire. However, a business representative told CNBC that all choices regarding intellectual property are “carefully considered,” noting that “generic treatments may become available over time and periods of exclusivity for pharmaceutical products end as part of their normal life cycle.”
Following the closure of the business’s recent acquisition of the European telehealth platform Zava, which extends the health platform in Europe to Ireland, France, and Germany, Hims made this news.
Additionally, Novo Nordisk terminated its partnership with Hims & Hers due to the company’s promotion and sale of less expensive imitations of their weight-loss medication Wegovy.
Novo owned a patent for semaglutide, according to records submitted to the Canadian Patent Database; however, the business did not pay the yearly maintenance fee until 2018.
According to letters in the records, Novo Nordisk’s attorneys asked for a reimbursement of the $250 Canadian ($185) 2017 maintenance charge that was paid because the business wanted additional time to decide whether or not to pay it.
After two years, the office sent a letter stating that the fee was not received by the deadline and that it now included a late fee, making the total CA$450.
Novo Nordisk’s patent expired in Canada because they failed to pay within the allotted one-year grace period. It does not expire until January, however it did lapse in 2020 when the fee was not received.
In their correspondence, Canadian authorities affirmed that “once a patent has lapsed it cannot be revived.”
“It has the potential to help strengthen the local healthcare system and unlock the potential for millions of Canadians to live healthier, more fulfilling lives by making affordable, holistic obesity treatment accessible,” stated David Meinertz, general manager of the worldwide business at Hims & Hers.
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