The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM) has announced financial sanctions in France against the pharmaceutical laboratories Novo Nordisk (Danish) and Eli Lilly (American) for an amount close to two million euros in total.
The health authority imposed a Novo Nordisk France receives a total fine of over €1.78 million. for campaigns of a nature to encourage the general public " to resort to its anti-obesity treatments – Saxenda and Wegovy – two specialties from the GLP-1 analogue family, considered one of the major pharmaceutical advances of recent years.
Read also GLP-1 analogues in the treatment of obesity: beware of the risks
Advertising for non-reimbursed medications is prohibited.
In detail, the Danish manufacturer, a champion of insulin, was fined one million euros, the maximum amount allowed by the regulations, for the dissemination of advertisements in favor of its drug Saxenda, as well as a penalty of 783,838 euros relating to Wegovy.
In To a lesser extent, Eli Lilly France is fined 108,766 euros. for a campaign centered around its anti-obesity initiative, Mounjaro.
The ANSM considers that these communications are "likely to constitute indirect promotion of prescription drugs"", while regulations prohibit any advertising to the general public for these treatments not reimbursed by Health Insurance.
In a context of intense media coverage and increasing misuse of GLP-1 analogues for aesthetic weight loss purposes, the agency emphasizes that these campaigns, widely disseminated across various media, were likely to mislead the public.
Read also Anti-obesity treatments: do you quickly regain weight after stopping them?
Novo Nordisk disputes
In a statement to AFP, Novo Nordisk France strongly disputes » the position of the ANSM and « examines all possible avenues of appeal against this decision“.
Shortly before last summer, the company plastered posters in the corridors of the Paris metro, featuring an overweight person determined to " act "For his health."
According to the ANSM, it has been distributing since October 2025 two new media outlets for the general public", including a message on social media mentioning the difficulties of weight loss related to menopause and inviting people to consult a gynecologist, illustrated by a woman entering menopause.
Videos redirecting to a website (audeladupoids.fr) containing information on obesity and its treatments, featuring a woman in her forties who had been overweight, are also being singled out.
“ These campaigns – which are no longer being broadcast – were part of best practices in prevention and awareness-raising." , defends Novo Nordisk, which unveiled in March a study by the firm Asterès, estimating the medical and economic cost of obesity in France at 18 billion euros per year.
For its part, Eli Lilly France said it acknowledges the ANSM's decision, considering that its awareness campaign entitled " Obesity is a sick thing "(April 2025), was "compliant with the framework applicable to communications relating to human health".
GLP-1 analogues are prescribed only in very specific situations.
Initially marketed as anti-diabetic drugs, GLP-1 receptor agonists have now proven themselves as treatments of unprecedented effectiveness in reducing obesity, which explains their popularity. Their prescription is reserved for very specific situations.
With its decision, the drug watchdog aims to to prevent any communication likely to promote the use of drug treatment as the primary response to obesity, to induce the public to seek this treatment from a healthcare professional, or to try to obtain it“.
The ANSM (French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety) reminds the public that selling and promoting these medications online without authorization is illegal. It regularly warns against counterfeit products, which should not be used for cosmetic purposes.
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