Novo Nordisk takes Eli Lilly to court over ‘misleading’ weight-loss drug ad | Here’s what it said
Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly in a US federal court, accusing the US drugmaker of falsely advertising that its weight-loss drugs are more effective than Novo Nordisk’s treatments.
Lilly violated federal and state false advertising and unfair competition laws, including the Lanham Act, through nationwide advertising campaigns for obesity drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, Novo said in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.
Lilly compared highest doses to lower Novo doses
Novo also said Lilly compared the highest approved doses of its drugs to lower doses of Novo Wegovy and Ozempic, excluding newer, higher-dose versions that Novo said produced greater weight loss. And so it’s seeking a court order requiring Lilly to pull the ads and run a corrective advertising campaign.
He also said he plans to take injunctive relief if Lilly doesn’t voluntarily remove the ads.
Two drugmakers are fighting for a share of the global obesity market, which is expected to reach $120 billion a year by 2030, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Although Novo surpassed Wegovy and Lilly in the market, it caught up with the US drug manufacturer Zepbound and rose to the leadership in sales. Novo is working overtime to regain market share, partnering with telehealth companies and launching a new weight-loss pill that has proven extremely popular with patients.
Lilly shares fell 0.6% in premarket U.S. trading. Novo shares fell as much as 1.6% in Copenhagen.
Highest dose trial showed a different result
Novo said it sent a cease and desist letter to Lilly in April after U.S. Regulators approved the 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy. Lilly did not respond to the letter, according to John Kuckelman, Novo’s general counsel. Instead, the company added what Novo called an inadequate disclaimer to its ads.
Kuckelman told Reuters Lilly’s ads compared Zepbound’s weight loss results of about 50 pounds to Wegovy’s loss of about 33 pounds, but no head-to-head trials compared the highest approved doses of the drugs.
“A separate late-stage trial using the highest doses showed average weight loss of approximately 48 pounds for Zepbound and 47 pounds for Wegovy.”
Novo also says that advertisements for Lilly’s Mounjaro diabetes drug falsely told consumers that the Lilly drug helps lower blood sugar more than Novo’s Ozempic, based on a comparison to a lower dose of Ozempic than is currently on the market.
Kuckelman said the Danish drugmaker asked the court to order Lilly to immediately stop running its ads and “publish corrective ads.” Bloomberg. “They have already polluted the water, so to speak, and now it needs to be cleaned,” he said.
(With input from Reuters and Bloomberg)
