Novo Nordisk Sues Eli Lilly in US Over Misleading Zepbound, Mounjaro Advertising

08:05 AM EDT, 07/21/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B.CO) filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly (LLY.F, LLY.SW) at the US District Court for the District of New Jersey over the latter's "false" and "materially misleading" advertising campaigns for its Zepbound and Mounjaro drugs. The Danish drugmaker said Tuesday that Lilly's ads included outdated studies that compared its highest doses with lower doses of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic medicines. "These high-profile US advertising campaigns create the misleading impression that Lilly's medicines are superior, including by withholding critical scientific evidence about newer, more effective FDA-approved options, such as the 7.2 mg dose of Wegovy," Novo Nordisk added. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction requiring Lilly to pull out the concerned advertisements across all platforms, as well as issue a corrective advertising campaign. Novo Nordisk said it intends to seek a preliminary injunction to immediately block the ads if Lilly does not voluntarily remove them.