PHONY

Company Behind Ozempic Cracks Down on Copycats

The drugmaker is suing several medical spas, weight-loss clinics and wellness clinics for allegedly offering custom-made versions of Ozempic.

Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company behind Ozempic, is going after clinics that they say are copying their popular weight-loss drug. Federal lawsuits filed Tuesday show that the drugmaker is suing several medical spas, weight-loss clinics and wellness clinics around the country for allegedly offering custom-made versions of Ozempic to help clients lose weight. The lawsuits show the heightened demand for Ozempic, which grew so large after word spread through social media and celebrity use that Novo Nordisk has struggled to keep up supply. This opened up a secondary market for phony versions, some of which were reportedly sold for cheaper than the real thing. In its batch of new lawsuits, Novo Nordisk asked the courts to require these clinics to disclose that their products aren’t affiliated with Novo Nordisk’s original versions.