Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has filed a lawsuit against rival Eli Lilly in a U.S. federal court, alleging that Lilly’s advertisements for its obesity treatments are false and misleading.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Novo Nordisk’s complaint, submitted to the U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accuses Lilly of misleading consumers by implying that its obesity drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro are superior to Novo’s products, Wegovy and Ozempic.
Novo Nordisk claims that Lilly compared the maximum approved doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro to lower doses of Wegovy and Ozempic, deliberately omitting the 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March of this year.
The lawsuit alleges that Lilly deceived consumers by advertising that Zepbound provides a weight loss effect of about 50 pounds (about 22.7 kg), while Wegovy offers a weight loss effect of about 33 pounds (about 15 kg), despite the absence of clinical trials directly comparing the maximum approved doses of the two companies’ products.
Novo Nordisk has asked the court to order the withdrawal of the advertisements and the issuance of corrective ads. The company also stated that if the ads are not voluntarily suspended, they plan to seek a temporary restraining order. Additionally, they are seeking damages, including any profits Lilly made from the allegedly misleading ads.
In response, Lilly maintains that their advertisements are based on the results of the SURMOUNT-5 clinical trial, set to be completed in 2024, and asserts that there are no issues with their claims.
Lilly’s representatives argued that Novo Nordisk is attempting to block the disclosure of clinical results through the courts instead of competing on product merits. They emphasized that their advertising is grounded in scientific evidence and stated their intention to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.