Novo Nordisk has taken rival Eli Lilly to a US federal court, accusing the drugmaker of making misleading claims about the efficacy of its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes medicines,
The Danish pharmaceutical company said it filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging that Lilly's promotional campaigns for obesity drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro violate federal and state false advertising and unfair competition laws, including the Lanham Act.
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At the heart of the dispute is Lilly's comparison of the highest approved doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro with lower-dose versions of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic.
Novo argues the advertisements omit the recently approved 7.2-milligram dose of Wegovy, which it says delivers substantially greater weight loss and renders Lilly's comparisons misleading.
According to Novo, Lilly's advertisements highlight weight-loss results of around 50 pounds for Zepbound versus roughly 33 pounds for Wegovy.
However, Novo contends there has been no head-to-head clinical trial comparing the highest approved doses of the two medicines.
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Instead, the company points to separate late-stage trials that showed average weight loss of about 48 pounds for Zepbound and 47 pounds for the highest-dose Wegovy.
Novo said it sent Lilly a cease-and-desist letter in April after US regulators approved the higher-dose Wegovy formulation.
The company claims Lilly neither withdrew the advertisements nor adequately addressed its concerns, instead adding what Novo described as an insufficient disclaimer.
The drugmaker is seeking a court order directing Lilly to withdraw the advertisements and launch a corrective advertising campaign.
Novo also said it would pursue a preliminary injunction if the advertisements are not voluntarily removed.
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