The UK pharmaceutical industry association suspended Novo Nordisk A/S for two years over its marketing of a weight-loss drug, saying the company breached the industry’s code of conduct.
(Bloomberg) — The UK pharmaceutical industry association suspended Novo Nordisk A/S for two years over its marketing of a weight-loss drug, saying the company breached the industry’s code of conduct.
Novo failed to make clear its involvement in a training on weight-loss drugs that was offered to pharmacists on LinkedIn, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.
Though largely symbolic, the suspension is a rare public rebuke as Novo, one of the world’s biggest makers of diabetes drugs, is locked in competition with US drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co. over what’s probably the most lucrative new market for medicines: weight loss. Novo has struggled to keep up with demand for its new obesity medication, called Wegovy.
The pharma group’s appeal board was concerned that the training was a large-scale “promotional campaign which Novo Nordisk knowingly paid for.” The course taught attendees how to “provide a weight-management service” and included information about a class of medicines known as GLP1-receptor agonists at a time when only Novo sold such a drug for slimming purposes, the board said. The medicine, Saxenda, is a predecessor to Wegovy.
The stock fell as much as 4.1% in Copenhagen trading on Thursday.
Soaring demand for Wegovy has lifted Novo’s fortunes and market value, turning it into the biggest company listed in Europe after LVMH. The most common form of diabetes develops when people are overweight and too sedentary, and some treatments for the disease can help patients slim down as well.
Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen apologized in a Financial Times interview last month for not disclosing the branding. Novo sponsored the LinkedIn training from February 2020 to December 2021, and was reprimanded in December.
The drugmaker is “disappointed” with the decision and remains committed to following the “highest possible ethical standards,” a spokesperson said. The company is slated to introduce Wegovy in the UK soon, though it declined to give a time.
The case marks the eighth time in 40 years that the ABPI issued such a significant sanction against a member. Those suspended in the past include Bayer AG, Abbott Laboratories and Roche Holding AG. The suspension has no effect on last week’s decision by the UK health-cost regulator to endorse Wegovy, Novo said.
–With assistance from Suzi Ring.
(Updates with previously suspended companies in the final paragraph)
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