- Novo Nordisk spent $884 million on TV commercials from 2018 to 2023 to promote Ozempic, Wigovy and other drugs used for weight loss.
- The Danish company also donated millions of dollars to American doctors to promote its drugs, paying a leading obesity specialist $1.4 million over nine years.
- Ozempic has become a cultural phenomenon, the butt of jokes at Hollywood award shows, thanks to its use by A-list celebrities.
“As I look around this room, I can't help but wonder if Ozempic is right for me,” Jimmy Kimmel told the star-studded crowd at the 2023 Oscars.
This gag not only caused a wave of laughter among Hollywood royalty who were present, some of whom were supposedly using the blockbuster weight loss drug, but Ozempic was the most hyped treatment in American history. This confirmed its status as a law.
But Ozempic's place in the zeitgeist was not only sealed by the desire of millions of Americans to shed fat without exercise or healthy eating.
The drug's social influence was also achieved through an extensive marketing campaign by its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, to promote other drugs such as Ozempic and Wigovy. The company has spent about $1 billion since 2018 to create the perception that “sustained weight loss is achievable” only by using the product, according to legal filings.
Novo Nordisk also paid tens of millions of dollars to top obesity and heart disease doctors to promote the drug, encourage peers to prescribe it, and lobby insurance companies to cover the cost. .
But as Ozempic and Wigovy's popularity has exploded thanks to their proven ability to be effective in weight loss and diabetes treatment (Ozempic's main purpose), the company is now showing that the drug has serious side effects that it was not warned about. could face thousands of lawsuits from patients who claim they caused .
DailyMail.com's investigation revealed that dozens of lawsuits have recently been filed against the company. These include a lawsuit from a woman who suffered from permanent diarrhea after using Ozempic. Many cases make extensive references to Novo Nordisk's “aggressive” marketing. The company said it believes the allegations in the lawsuit are “without merit” and “will vigorously defend against these claims.”
A Novo Nordisk spokeswoman said the company would “vigorously defend itself” against the lawsuit.
Doctors paid millions of dollars
Lobbying of doctors by big pharmaceutical companies is nothing new. Clinicians play a critical role in the drug development process and can promote the benefits of emerging and newly approved drugs.
But Novo Nordisk's lobbying efforts also aim to “change the medical consensus on obesity” by framing its medicine as the only way to achieve “sustainable weight loss”. the complaint alleges.
An analysis by DailyMail.com found that in 2022, the company paid doctors and practitioners about $34 million for work unrelated to research, such as promotional speaking engagements. The amount is the highest amount Novo Nordisk has spent on such services since at least 2016, according to federal data on payments to doctors by drug companies.
The highest-paid doctor in 2022 was UCLA School of Medicine professor Dr. Ramin Ebrahimi, who received $113,489.06 for consulting, speaking and other work, the data showed.
Payments to Mr. Ebrahimi, a leading cardiologist, will be made on April 9, 2022 in connection with Libersus, an oral form of Ozempic used to treat type 2 diabetes and also prescribed off-label for weight loss purposes. Includes $10,218.85 paid to
Approximately six weeks later, he received $8,062.50 for speaking engagements related to Ozempic.
The records do not disclose details of the meetings, and not all records indicate which Novo Nordisk drugs the payments related to. Ebrahimi had previously disclosed his paid relationship with Nordisk alongside his writings in scientific journals.
Dr. Josh Stoker was the company's second-highest paid physician. In 2022, he received $106,866.28 from Nordisk.
Stoker, a cardiologist based in St. Louis, Missouri, has appeared numerous times in Novo Nordisk's official videos to talk about Ozempic, as well as on podcasts sponsored by the company.
He said Ozempic is a “win-win” drug because it reduces the risk of heart complications in some patients while also leading to weight loss.
Payments to Mr. Stoker include $10,368.75 on April 4 to talk about Libersus, the tablet version of Ozempic, and $8,437.50 on January 25 to talk about Ozempic.
Other doctors who received the highest compensation last year included bariatric specialist Dana Kay Weber, who received $102,787.39. A Tennessee-based family nurse practitioner, Webber's biography describes her “passion and focus in treating and raising awareness of the disease of obesity.”
Federal data highlights that several of the country's leading obesity doctors received payments of more than $1 million from Novo Nordisk.
Dr. Lee Kaplan, one of the nation's top obesity specialists, received $1.4 million from 2013 to 2022, according to a Reuters analysis.
Kaplan is the former director of Massachusetts General Hospital's influential Obesity, Metabolism, and Nutrition Institute.
Last year, about 400 doctors attended his annual obesity seminar, where he talked about the value of drugs such as Wegovy, which is FDA-approved for weight management, in combating obesity. He spoke passionately about it.
According to Reuters, Kaplan said the historic approach of promoting better diet and more exercise has failed, and lifelong prescriptions for such drugs should also be considered.
In fact, research shows that patients who stop using the drug often regain the weight they lost, and sometimes even more.
“As long as your body wants to be obese, you're going to have to use these drugs,” he told a conference in Boston in June.
Defending his work, Kaplan told Reuters he was not “pandering to corporations” and said, “If you can't defend what you're doing as being appropriate and ethical, then you shouldn't be doing it.” added.
Dr. Donna Ryan, former president of the Obesity Association, who spoke at the event alongside Kaplan, has been paid more than $1 million by Novo Nordisk since 2013. The payments include $600,691 in drugs related to Wegobee and Saxenda, another of the company's weight loss businesses.
Novo Nordisk funded trips to Paris, Madrid, Abu Dhabi and more as part of Ryan's work.
“I'm proud of the work we've done for obese patients,” Ryan told Reuters.
Some doctors who are paid by Novo Nordisk insist on prescribing the company's products to obese patients and lobby insurance companies to cover the cost of the drugs.
“We're excited to announce that this is the first time we've seen this,” said Dr. Robert Lustig, professor emeritus of pediatrics and endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. What I am against is the indiscriminate use of drugs against everyone. But that's what the drug companies want because that's where the money is. ”
Billion dollar marketing blitz
There are few Americans who have not heard this upbeat jingle, written to the tune of Pilot's 1974 hit “Magic,” which has been featured in many Ozempic commercials.
The song “Oh, oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” played, followed by a commercial explaining the benefits for diabetics, then adding that users who took the drug lost up to 14 pounds.
Ozempic's first television commercial aired in July 2018, marking the beginning of a major promotional campaign by Novo Nordisk. Since then, it has spent about $884 million on TV ads alone, and even more through advertising on social media.
According to analysis published by Xtalks, Ozempic had the fourth-largest TV advertising budget of all pharmaceutical products in 2022, behind Novo Nordisk, which spent an estimated $157 million on commercials. It became clear. (The top three brands were immunotherapy for eczema, arthritis, psoriasis, and asthma.)
The most “expensive” ad, according to the analysis, was Ozempic's Tri-Zone ad, which featured a reworked Magic track as a jingle and touted the drug's weight loss benefits. This campaign cost approximately $87 million.
The lawsuit against Novo Nordisk cites “aggressive marketing of Ozempic's weight loss benefits” and “America's socially ingrained desire to be thin” as leading to a “tipping point” in the drug's popularity in 2021. has been done.
Novo Nordisk said it “does not disclose or comment on its marketing expenditures and its campaigns comply with approved labeling and all applicable U.S. laws and regulations.”
The company added that it “does not in any way communicate or imply that our medicines are 'the only way to achieve sustainable weight loss,'” and that such claims are “inaccurate.” said.
On social media, the Ozempic hashtag has been viewed 272 million times by November 2022 and more than 1.2 billion times by December 2023, marking a sharp increase over the past year. . There are also thousands of ads on Facebook and Instagram.
The hype heated up last year as celebrities started talking about their own experiences using Novo Nordisk products. Elon Musk credits Wiggoby for helping him get 'ripped' and his visibly thinner Sharon Osbourne talks about her dramatic weight loss on Ozempic and warns others about its dangers .
Chelsea Handler said she unknowingly took Ozempic after being prescribed it by an anti-aging doctor who “just gave it to everyone.”handler She said she lost a few pounds but stopped using it after realizing it was Ozempic, arguing it should be reserved for diabetics.
Ozempic has been described by leading marketing magazine AdAge as the “hottest drug of 2023” and one of the “most popular brands disrupting American culture and industry,” with its impact on medical This shows that it extends not only to society, but also to society as a whole.
Sales of Ozempic and related drugs used for weight loss soared more than 300% last year, according to estimates.
This success has generated huge profits for Novo Nordisk, whose stock price has risen about 600 percent since 2016, when it filed for FDA approval for Ozempic. It is now Europe's most valuable listed company.
Kimmel's Ozempic gag at the Oscars follows another name-drop at the Emmys earlier this week, with actress Christina Applegate commenting on her 2021 multiple sclerosis diagnosis. Inside, he joked that his body was “not caused by Ozempic.''
These jokes weren't just a nod to Hollywood's (and society's) embrace of Ozempic, Wegoby, and other weight loss drugs to get a better body without the burden of exercise or proper eating. . These were the result of Novo Nordic's relentless marketing machine, which has placed its medicines at the center of American culture.
