France fines Lilly and Novo Nordisk over weight-loss drug promotion

France's medicines regulator, the Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé (ANSM), fined Novo Nordisk roughly $2 million and Eli Lilly roughly $127,000 for advertising practices tied to their weight-loss drugs.^[1] The agency said both companies ran disease-awareness campaigns that, in practice, amounted to indirect promotion of prescription obesity treatments — something not allowed under French law.^[2]

Novo Nordisk's penalties break down into two parts. The company was fined €783,838.20 ($919,688) over campaigns tied to Wegovy, including a 2025 Paris poster reading "I've decided to act for myself & for my health" and a social media post about menopause that pointed people to a company-run website.^[2] A separate €1 million ($1.17 million) fine covered similar messaging connected to Saxenda, Novo's other injectable obesity drug.^[2] Combined, the STAT report describes the total hit to Novo as approximately $2 million.^[1]

Lilly's fine, €108,766 ($127,591), stemmed from a poster campaign in six major French cities last year with the tagline "Obesity is a sick person's problem," which ran in metro stations, the press, and on social media.^[2] ANSM found that because Mounjaro and similar drugs are already widely recognized by the public, a campaign that discusses obesity medication without naming a specific product can still function as promotion, encouraging people to seek out "products in the Mounjaro range" regardless of their weight or body mass index.^[2]

Regulators said the campaigns did not clearly state who these medicines are meant for. In France, Wegovy is approved as a second-line obesity treatment, not for people with a lower BMI or those who simply want to lose some weight, according to the ANSM decision.^[2] The agency also said the ads leaned too heavily on medication as the answer to obesity without giving enough weight to diet and exercise.^[2] ANSM had already flagged concerns about GLP-1 drug misuse in a bulletin about two years earlier.^[1]

Why it matters for patients

These fines were issued under French and European Union rules, which generally ban direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs — a restriction the United States does not have. Because of that difference, this specific enforcement action does not create new obligations for Novo Nordisk or Lilly's marketing in the US.^[1][2] Still, the case shows regulators abroad are watching closely for messaging that could push people toward GLP-1 drugs who may not meet the medical criteria for them, a concern shared by health authorities tracking misuse of the drug class.^[1] For US patients, it's a reminder that marketing seen online — company websites, social posts, and awareness campaigns — is not neutral information about who a drug is meant for; that determination rests with a prescriber's assessment of medical need. It is not yet known whether US regulators plan any comparable review of GLP-1 marketing.

The enforcement also lands amid rebranding moves in the US market. Novo Nordisk recently renamed its Rybelsus tablet "Ozempic pill" and its injectable "Ozempic injection," with matching name changes for its Wegovy pill and injection.^[2] Lilly, meanwhile, has launched Foundayo, its orforglipron pill, a chemically distinct GLP-1 drug from the tirzepatide used in Mounjaro and Zepbound.^[2] Patients navigating these renamed and newly launched products may find it harder to keep track of which drug is which, and marketing language is not a substitute for confirming details with a pharmacist or prescriber.

What happens next

The sources do not report whether Novo Nordisk or Lilly plan to appeal the French fines, nor do they indicate any parallel investigation by US regulators such as the FDA. It is not yet known whether this action will influence how either company markets these drugs outside France.