Hims will sell generic Semaglutide in 2026
Hims is going to start selling generic Semaglutide in 2026, long before US patents expire. How?
Clearly, there's no love lost between Hims and Novo Nordisk. The two companies parted ways quite publicly (with drama that is somewhat rare for public companies) just recently:
GLP1.Guide Staff
You'd think that would be the end of Hims and Semaglutide (well, at least officially procured Semaglutide), but it looks like the recent Novo Nordisk failure to protect their patent protections is going to play a part:
GLP1.Guide Staff
It turns out Hims has started selling generic Semaglutide in Canada:
Brandon Gomez
What did Hims have to say?
Hims put out a press release:
Written byHims & HersJuly 9, 2025
Hims pegs the current cost of Semaglutide in Canada at 200 CAD:
In Canada, branded semaglutide with no surrounding clinical support currently costs more than C$200 a month.
While it's unlikely that Hims is offering advanced "clinical support", it's clear that they're aiming for a price point lower than 200 CAD.
Hims aren't the only ones, of course
Hims is not the only company poised to take advantage of the patent lapse. In fact, they're probably not even the best positioned – Sandoz's CEO Richard Saynor actually made the passing comment about Novo Nordisk's failure to renew – they're going to be a huge manufacturer of generic Semaglutide as well.
Sandoz is a ~10B revenue per year corporation that is certain to have the means to bring economies of scale to production of Semaglutide:
Contributors to Wikimedia projects
So if it wasn't clear already, Canada is going to get incredibly cheap Semaglutide starting in 2026 or sooner.
This is great news for access to GLP1s in Canada, and those in North America that have connections there.
Why is Him's acquisition of ZAVA relevant?
On the surface the ZAVA Acquisition announced by Hims seems to have almost no relation to the expansion of generic Semaglutide to Canada.
ZAVA is a platform that enables "discreet & convenient online healthcare" (their website title at the time of this article's writing):
This fits with Hims detractors' views on Hims – a company that essentially arbitrages undue public shame to deliver medications at exorbitant prices.
Criticisms aside, we think Him's acquisition has been a master stroke. ZAVA deals in many EU countries and there is a treaty in place for importation of drugs between Canada and the UK in particular:
Health Canada
In fact, there are a bunch of these agreements between Canada and the EU along with other countries:
Health Canada
The agreements cover the following countries/blocs:
- European Union (EU)
- Switzerland
- Austalia
- European Economic Area
- Iceland
- Liechenstein
- Norway
- Australia
- United Kingdom
So now we know why the ZAVA acquisition is important. Hims is about to export generic Semaglutide everywhere it can.
So what does Semaglutide cost in a place like the UK?
Lucinda Starr
Juniper is pegging the price of Wegovy at roughly £200:
The cost of Wegovy depends on what dose you are taking. If you are prescribed Wegovy for the first time, or you’ve had a break from the medication, you will most likely start at the lowest dosage, 0.25mg, to give your body time to adapt to the medication. You can then increase the dosage every month. 0.25mg, 0.5mg and 1mg are priced at £189. It is optional to increase your dosage to 1.7mg or 2.4mg which are priced at £219, and £239 respectively.
We know at this point that Semaglutide can be manufactured incredibly cheaply by compounding, and can be sold for huge margins. It looks like Hims is going to do as much as it can, in as many countries as it can.
Accessibility of GLP1s is going to increase, just not in the US
It looks like even though North America is the largest market for GLP1s so far (with a large part of that being the United States of America), EU and UK along with other countries are about to get access to high quality generics, given the profit motive of Hims.
This is a somewhat unforeseen advancement of generics, ordinarily waiting for the patents to lapse in all individual countries would have been required, but it looks like Hims has found a way around, if our conjecture plays out.
Things are unlikely to work out as well as Hims has hoped – they're about to face a ton of competition from just about every company that can do something similar. That said, this development is going to be fantastic for accessibility to GLP1s for a lot of people around the world, so it's something to celebrate.
