Telehealth company Hims & Hers is playing offense in a new commercial slated to air during the Super Bowl next month.
The minute-long ad, which debuted online Tuesday, is titled “Sick of the System” and takes aim at the American weight loss industry—“a $160 billion industry that feeds on our failure,” according to the commercial.
“Something’s broken, and it’s not our bodies,” a voice-over says. “There are medications that work, 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.”
Meanwhile, the ad flashes through headlines and statistics about the obesity epidemic and high drug prices, close-up shots of junk food and off-putting imagery of a monkey hoarding money and animals attacking one another, all while Childish Gambino’s “This Is America”—initially written as an anthem about systemic racism in the U.S.—plays in the background.
The commercial then shifts tone to highlight Hims & Hers’ own offering of “life-changing weight-loss medications,” which are “affordable, doctor-trusted and formulated in the USA,” per the voice-over, amid shots of oral and injectable medications and of the company’s smartphone app.
The commercial goes on to describe how the company’s weight loss program includes doctor-designed treatment plans to go along with obesity medications, concluding, “This is the future of healthcare. This is Hims & Hers. Join us in the fight for a healthier America.”
An accompanying website further claims, “Junk food giants, diet industry’s quick fixes, Big Pharma’s price-gouging, and regulations that favor special interests have created a system that leaves us with limited options, skyrocketing costs, and a cycle of failure.”
On the Big Pharma front, Hims & Hers appears to be going head-to-head with makers of weight loss drugs like Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide—sold as Wegovy for obesity—and Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide, branded as Zepbound for obesity.
The list price of Wegovy clocks in at $1,349 for a monthly supply, sans insurance coverage or Novo’s own savings plan. Hims & Hers, meanwhile, began offering compounded semaglutide injections to its customers last May with prices starting at $199 per month.
As noted across the telehealth provider’s website and in the commercial’s fine print, compounded versions of drugs are not subject to FDA approval or evaluations of safety and quality.
Criticism of marketing 'loophole'
That also means they’re not subject to the same FDA marketing rules that apply to approved drugs—a “loophole” that has roused concern among advocacy groups worried about the lack of information in the Hims & Hers commercial about potential side effects or adverse events linked to GLP-1 drugs. Among the ad’s critics are trade group the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and public health nonprofit The Partnership for Safe Medicines.
In a Feb. 3 statement, Shabbir Safdar, executive director of the latter group, claimed the Super Bowl spot “recklessly misleads and potentially endangers” viewers by not making it overtly clear that the drugs distributed by the telehealth company are not subject to stringent FDA oversight and by omitting any information about adverse effects.
“Typical pharmaceutical ads must follow strict guidelines about sharing a drug’s side effects and risks to inform and protect patients," Safdar said. "Compounders operate on the outskirts of drug safety regulations and don’t face the same stringent requirements. This ad exploits the loophole in existing law, prioritizing shock value and sales targets.”
Compounding pharmacies began making their lower-cost copycat versions of both semaglutide and tirzepatide in the second half of 2022, when both drugs were added to the FDA’s shortage list within the span of a few months. When tirzepatide was removed from the list last fall—a move that sent Hims & Hers’ stock price down—compounders sued the FDA for what they called a “reckless and arbitrary decision.” The compounders’ outrage inspired the regulator to take a second look at the decision, which it ultimately upheld in December.
Though semaglutide remains on the shortage list, Novo has made moves to block compounders from making their own versions, including by nominating semaglutide for inclusion on the FDA’s Demonstrable Difficulties for Compounding lists in October. In a response at the time, Scott Brunner, CEO of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, said the move looked “more like desperation and an attempt by Novo to protect its revenue stream than a serious scientific argument.”
Editor's note: This story was updated Feb. 6 with a statement from The Partnership for Safe Medicines.