The telehealth is giant planting its flag in new overseas markets. On U.S. soil, it’s navigating a fight over compounded GLP-1s versus Big Pharma’s branded blockbusters
Telehealth giant Hims & Hers announced a $1.15 billion deal to acquire Eucalyptus, an Australian digital health platform with operations in the U.K., Germany, Japan and Canada, in one of its most expansive international moves yet.
The move comes as Hims & Hers grapples with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its newly introduced compounded GLP-1 pills.
Tim Doyle, Eucalyptus’s co-founder and CEO, will become Hims & Hers’ senior vice president of international upon closing, expected mid-2026.
Eucalyptus operates several consumer health brands including Pilot, a men’s health platform, and Juniper, focused on women’s weight loss and menopause, and has served more than 775,000 customers globally.
“We believe this puts us on the path to becoming the leading global consumer health platform, where everyone can access the best care for their needs, regardless of where they live,” Hims & Hers founder and CEO Andrew Dudum said.
It is not Hims’ first move on the global chessboard. Last year, Hims acquired Zava, a European digital health platform with more than a million active users, marking its entry into Germany, France and Ireland.
On the home front, it also picked up Trybe Labs, a New Jersey-based at-home lab testing facility and a California peptide manufacturing operation.
All of that expansion has unfolded against an increasingly turbulent and litigious fight pitting branded weight loss drugs against compounded alternatives.
Earlier this month, Hims announced plans to offer a compounded oral semaglutide pill for $49, a needle-free alternative for patients who preferred pills to injections that came on the heels of pharma giant Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, an FDA-approved GLP-1 pill for weight loss.
Shortly after, the FDA announced it would take decisive steps to restrict GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients used in non-FDA-approved compounded drugs — and named Hims & Hers explicitly.
“These actions are aimed to safeguard consumers from drugs for which the FDA cannot verify quality, safety or efficacy,” FDA Commissioner Martin A. Makary said in a statement on Feb. 6.
Hims then quickly pulled the offering, posting on X the next day that it had “constructive conversations with stakeholders across the industry.”
“As a result, we have decided to stop offering access to this treatment,” the post continued. “We remain committed to the millions of Americans who depend on us for access to safe, affordable and personalized care.”
By Feb. 9, pharma giant Novo Nordisk sued the telehealth platform over patent infringement, accusing Hims of “mass marketing unapproved knock-off versions of Wegovy and Ozempic.”
Hims fired back on X, calling the lawsuit a “blatant attack” on Americans who rely on compounded medications.
“This lawsuit attacks more than just one medication or company – it directly assaults a well-established, vital component of US pharmacy practice that has improved patient care for everything from obesity to infertility to cancer,” Hims wrote, striking the same chord as its provocative Super Bowl ad pitching affordable healthcare as a right, not a privilege.
Not long ago, the two companies were partners, albeit briefly.
Hims had struck a deal with Novo to offer injectable Wegovy directly through its platform, the kind of corporate embrace that suggested a future of coexistence between big pharma and the telehealth disruptors.
However, the partnership — barely a month old — collapsed last June after Novo accused Hims of continuing to sell compounded versions of Wegovy at scale, using ingredients sourced from suppliers in China that the FDA had never inspected or approved. Hims called the accusations misleading.
Novo, in turn, deepened ties with WeightWatchers, which has publicly committed to FDA-approved medications only.
Hims reports fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Feb. 23.
