- The FDA issued warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over allegedly misleading marketing tied to compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
- Investor focus has also shifted to peptides, after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said regulators are reviewing whether roughly 14 previously restricted peptides.
- Retail traders largely dismissed the warning as a marketing issue, saying the dispute centers on advertising language, with some calling Hims a “deep value” stock.
Shares of Hims & Hers Health Inc. (HIMS) slipped more than 1% in overnight trading on Tuesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to 30 telehealth companies over false or misleading marketing claims tied to compounded GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.
HIMS stock tumbled 4% to end at $15.82 on Tuesday and has shed over half of its value so far this year.
FDA Targets GLP-1 Marketing Claims
The FDA said some companies promoted compounded medicines as equivalent to approved GLP-1 treatments or branded the products in ways that obscured their manufacturing location.
The agency said the violations involved marketing claims around compounded Semaglutide, Sirzepatide and Liraglutide, the active ingredients used in Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro.
“It’s a new era. We are paying close attention to misleading claims being made by telehealth and pharma companies across all media platforms—and taking swift action,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a statement.
The companies have 15 working days to respond and outline corrective steps. The move follows an earlier round of warning letters sent in September to companies involved in selling weight-loss drugs, including Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Hims, as part of a broader crackdown on drug advertising.
Hims also came under fire recently after the FDA warned it could take action over the company’s $49 compounded weight-loss pill, while Novo Nordisk escalated the dispute last month by filing a lawsuit against the company.
Retail Traders Downplay Regulatory Risk
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for HIMS was ‘bearish’ amid ‘low’ message volume.
Despite the warning letter, retail traders largely dismissed the move as a marketing issue rather than a fundamental threat to the company’s business model.
Some users noted that regulators repeatedly focused on advertising and promotional claims, arguing the dispute centers on marketing language rather than the legality of compounded drugs. One trader said they were “not worried about FDA overhang.”
Others pointed to the company’s potential growth in peptides and broader telehealth services, saying the firm could pivot toward brand-name GLP-1 drugs while expanding into new therapies and international markets. Users called Hims a “discount deep value stock.”
Peptides Seen As A Key Growth Driver
Investor focus has increasingly shifted toward peptides after the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said regulators are reviewing whether several peptides that were previously restricted could be allowed for domestic compounding again.
Peptides are small chains of amino acids that influence various biological processes. Some are promoted for benefits such as muscle growth, immune support and healthy aging, though effectiveness varies across different compounds.
Kennedy said roughly 14 peptides could potentially move back to a category that allows U.S. compounding pharmacies to produce them. The Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman said Hims & Hers is “the most likely public company play for peptides at scale,” adding the category could offset potential GLP-1 related downside.
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