One of the biggest compounding pharmacies in the U.S. is accusing Eli Lilly $LLY ( ▼ 3.76% ) and Novo Nordisk $NVO of trying to shut down the compounded GLP 1 market by controlling telehealth distribution.
Strive Specialties claims Lilly and Novo have signed deals with major telehealth platforms like Ro, Weight Watchers, and LifeMD that effectively block those platforms from working with compounding pharmacies, limiting doctor choice and cutting off cheaper alternatives for patients.
What Strive is arguing
Strive’s lawsuit says these partnerships restrict:
which meds prescribers can offer
what options patients can access
whether compounders can compete at all
Their claim is simple: Lilly and Novo are using distribution leverage to protect their branded monopoly, not patient safety.
The Hims example is the smoking gun
The lawsuit points to Novo’s short lived partnership with Hims & Hers $HIMS ( ▼ 0.29% ) .
Novo ended the deal after Hims kept selling compounded versions of Wegovy’s active ingredient. Hims works with Strive to fill some prescriptions, which made this breakup pretty telling.
The compounding loophole
Compounding pharmacies were supposed to stop mass producing GLP 1 copies once the FDA removed the “shortage” classification.
But many have kept going by marketing them as:
“personalized”
“microdosed”
slightly altered versions
Same demand. Different labeling.
And they are way cheaper than branded shots.
The key number
Novo CEO Mike Doustdar estimated around 1.5 million U.S. patients are using compounded versions of Novo’s GLP 1 drugs.
His point was blunt: people are not choosing compounded meds because they want sketchy knockoffs.
They are choosing them because they can afford them.
The bottom line
This is a classic “access vs control” fight.
Big Pharma says compounders are basically counterfeiters.
Compounders say Big Pharma is using telehealth contracts to block competition and keep prices high.
And with 1.5M people already using compounded GLP 1s, this is only getting louder from here.