Novo Nordisk is ramping up its legal campaign against medical spas, pharmacies and clinics marketing compounded versions of its popular weight loss and diabetes drugs.
The Danish pharma filed nine new lawsuits in several states on Thursday accusing several entities of deceptively marketing compounded semaglutide, the main ingredient in Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic.
In one instance, Novo said compounded semaglutide sold by Midtown Express in Tennessee was found to contain no semaglutide at all, according to court documents.
Doug Langa“We will continue to pursue legal action against those who provide potentially unsafe and ineffective compounded ‘semaglutide’ products and knowingly deceive patients who are seeking treatment, thereby eroding public trust in the safety of FDA-approved medicines,” Novo’s executive VP of North America operations Doug Langa said in a news release.
Complaints were filed against Aesthetic Maison and MediOAK Pharmacy in Texas; BOF Medical Center, MD Exam and DoctorsRx in Florida; G2 Telemedicine in Montana; GenericOzempic.com in Illinois; Midtown Express in Tennessee; and Weight Loss MD in Colorado. The defendants were not immediately available for comment.
Novo has now filed 21 legal actions against companies marketing compounded semaglutide. Judgments in five of those cases have barred defendants from using Novo’s trademarks to sell compounded drugs.
Compounded medicines are allowed in US medical practice in certain circumstances, but aren’t FDA-approved and thus aren’t held to the same safety and efficacy standards as brand-name drugs. Eli Lilly has launched a similar legal campaign against compounded versions of its weight loss and diabetes drug tirzepatide.
“Novo Nordisk does not directly or indirectly provide or sell bulk semaglutide to compounding pharmacies or any other entity for the purposes of compounding semaglutide products,” the company said in its news release.