Novo sues Lilly over 'misleading' GLP-1 ad campaigning
Wesley Tingey
The intense rivalry between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in the market for GLP-1 agonist-based therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes has spilt over into the courts.
Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit today accusing Lilly of a "nationwide pattern of deceptive advertising" that it claims is designed to confuse the public and cast its medicines in a poor light.
In particular, the suit is focusing on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for Lilly's obesity therapy Zepbound and type 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro, both based on dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist tirzepatide. It claims that ads for the two drugs misrepresent its rival Wegovy and Ozempic therapies, containing GLP-1 agonist semaglutide, as they omit relevant information about their efficacy.
"Lilly's current advertising campaigns intentionally selected outdated studies that compare Lilly's highest doses against lower doses of Novo Nordisk's medicines, deceptively presenting those results as proof of broad, product-level superiority while burying or omitting critical clinical context," said Novo Nordisk in a statement.
The company added that it has sent cease-and-desist notices to Lilly, asking it to pull or correct the ads, which it estimates have been seen hundreds of millions of times, but these have been ignored.
Specifically, the lawsuit cites one campaign which Novo Nordisk claims omits to mention its recently approved high-dose formulation of Wegovy, drawing a comparison instead only between Zepbound and the older, lower-strength version of its drug.
It also makes a similar complaint about a DTC campaign comparing Mounjaro and Ozempic, failing to mention a higher, more effective maintenance dose of the latter drug that has been approved in the US for more than four years.
"As new and more effective treatment options become available, people deserve accurate information that reflects the latest scientific evidence and helps them make informed care decisions," commented John Kuckelman, Novo Nordisk's group general counsel.
"Healthcare companies have a responsibility to keep their public claims accurate and current – ineffective, fine-print disclaimers do not fix the misleading impression created by major national campaigns," he added.
The legal action comes as Novo Nordisk has been losing ground to Lilly in the GLP-1 market, with growth rates for injectable Wegovy and Ozempic both slowing down as Zepbound and Mounjaro romp away.
Novo Nordisk said it is seeking a permanent injunction on the campaigns, and wants Lilly to run another correcting its claims. So far, Lilly has not responded to the allegations.
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash
