In the latest fracas over obesity drugs, Novo Nordisk filed lawsuits alleging several medical spas, wellness clinics, and weight loss clinics around the U.S. are illegally selling compounded versions of its medicines.
The drugmaker accused the businesses of false advertising, unfair competition, and infringing on trademarks for three medicines: Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus. All three drugs are used to treat diabetes, although Wegovy was also approved by U.S. regulators to help people with overweight or obesity lose weight if they have a related condition such as high blood pressure.
All three drugs contain the same active ingredient, known as semaglutide. Use of semaglutide has soared amid a tremendous amount of interest in the drugs, some spurred by social media and celebrity use. Unlike earlier rounds of prescription diet pills, medicines containing semaglutide do not produce the same troubling side effects.