Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar on Wednesday defended the drugmaker’s decision to sue the rival Eli Lilly about his advertising for weight loss medications.
“I’m a big fan of competition. I think competition has to be tough, but I also think competition has to be fair,” Doustdar said on CNBC’s “Mad Money.” “I believe patients deserve to hear the full truth from their doctors before choosing a product.”
Last month, Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit alleging that Lilly’s promotion of its blockbuster GLP-1 injectable drugs misleads consumers about their effectiveness compared to Novo’s competing treatments. In a statement at the time, Lilly said it “stands firmly behind our advertising.”
In its advertisements, Lilly cites a direct comparison of its obesity drug Zepbound with Novo Nordisk’s rival drug Wegovy. The results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2025. The study data showed that the maximum tolerated dose of 10 mg or 15 mg of Zepbound over 72 weeks resulted in an average weight loss of 20.2%, or about 50 pounds, compared to 13.7%, or about 33 pounds, at the then maximum tolerated dose of 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg for Wegovy.
Doustdar argued that Lilly’s comparisons don’t give consumers a complete picture because they rely on an older, lower-dose version of Novo’s Wegovy rather than the company’s newer, high-dose 7.2 mg offering, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration back in March. Novo said it conducted a study with 7.2 mg of Wegovy and found an average weight loss over 72 weeks of about 19%, or 47 pounds – much closer to the maximum dose of Zepbound in the previous study.
“We believe that the advertisements they ran, while true, do not represent the full picture,” Doustdar said. “It’s based on older generations of these products and old cans,” he added. “People need to know that there is an advanced version of Wegovy on the market with a different profile, and then they can make their choice and decide which product is the best.”
When asked for comment, an Eli Lilly spokesperson said: “We are pleased to have the CEO of Novo Nordisk confirm what we have said all along: Lilly’s advertising is truthful. As for the claim that Wegovy HD is on par with Zepbound, that comparison is not supported by any direct clinical study. Novo knows this and that is why you have never heard this before in their paid consumer advertising. The reality is that Zepbound is the most commonly prescribed anti-obesity drug is.” In the U.S., Lilly stands behind its science and the only head-to-head studies comparing these two drugs.”
The litigation comes as competition between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly heats up in the booming GLP-1 market. Doustdar acknowledged that Lilly has gained market share, particularly in injectable weight-loss drugs. Since the lawsuit was filed, Novo shares have fallen 6%, while Eli Lilly has risen nearly 4%.
“It’s no secret that Lilly has actually been quite successful in growing volume and market share beyond Novo in injectables,” Doustdar said.
At the same time, Doustdar promoted the company’s new Wegovy pill, which hit the market in early January following FDA approval in late December 2025. He said the number of prescribed drugs in the US had surpassed 5 million and claimed the Wegovy pill was the “best launch in the history of medicines”.
Lilly has its own weight loss pill called Foundayo, which was approved by the FDA on April 1 and began shipping a few days later. The Wegovy pill has a head start, and it showed in Lilly’s most recent earnings report. Although results were strong, Foundayo fell short of expectations as the company works to increase consumer awareness.
Lilly is a stock in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust, the portfolio of CNBC Investing Club.
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