Novo Nordisk sues Eli Lilly over weight-loss drug ads

Investing.com -- Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Eli Lilly in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, claiming the American pharmaceutical company engaged in false advertising by stating its weight-loss medications perform better than Novo's products.

The Danish drugmaker said the lawsuit alleges 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.

According to Novo, Lilly compared the highest approved doses of its medications with lower doses of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic while leaving out newer, higher-dose versions that Novo says produce greater weight loss.

The company is requesting a court order that would require Lilly to withdraw the advertisements and run a corrective advertising campaign. Novo said it plans to seek a preliminary injunction if Lilly does not voluntarily remove the ads.

Novo sent Lilly a cease-and-desist letter in April after the U.S. approved a 7.2-milligram dose of Wegovy. Lilly did not respond to the letter, Novo's general counsel John Kuckelman said, adding that the company instead inserted what he described as an inadequate disclaimer into the advertisements.

Kuckelman said Lilly's advertisements compare weight-loss results of about 50 pounds for Zepbound with about 33 pounds for Wegovy. He noted that no head-to-head trial has compared the highest approved doses of the medicines. Separate late-stage trials of the highest doses showed average weight loss of about 48 pounds for Zepbound and 47 pounds for Wegovy, he said.

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