Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic maker lawsuit accuses Eli Lilly of false advertising in weight-loss drug ads that it says misled consumers.
Novo Nordisk has filed an Ozempic maker lawsuit against Eli Lilly, accusing the American drug company of false advertising over commercials tied to weight-loss medicines. The case, filed in the US on Tuesday, centers on ads Novo says were designed to make Eli Lilly’s products look better than they really are.
The Danish company, which makes Wegovy and Ozempic, said Eli Lilly’s nationwide campaigns created a misleading impression that its medicines were superior. Novo said the ads compared the highest approved doses of Lilly’s drugs for obesity and type-2 diabetes with lower doses of Novo Nordisk’s medicines, while leaving out newer higher-dose options.
At the heart of the Ozempic maker lawsuit are comparisons Novo says were done incorrectly, including Mounjaro against Ozempic and Zepbound against Wegovy. Novo said the ads relied on older studies and left out important clinical context. It said Eli Lilly’s marketing amounted to multiple violations of federal and state false advertising and unfair competition laws.
Eli Lilly rejected the allegations and said it stood firmly behind its advertising. A company spokesperson said the claims were truthful, transparent and based on the most direct scientific evidence available. The company said it would continue to focus on the science and defend itself against the lawsuit.
Novo said it wants a court order forcing Eli Lilly to remove the ads and replace them with a corrective campaign. If the commercials are not taken down voluntarily, Novo said it plans to seek a preliminary injunction in the coming days. Eli Lilly, meanwhile, accused Novo of trying to stop it from discussing the results of a comparison trial it described as robustly designed and the gold standard. The fight comes as both companies battle for dominance in the fast-growing weight-loss drug market, which analysts say could be worth more than $100 billion by 2030. Why this matters: the outcome could shape how two of the country’s biggest drug makers sell these treatments to American patients.
