Novo Nordisk's CEO stood in front of cameras and said the words "competition has to be fair" about a lawsuit over weight-loss drug advertisements. A pharmaceutical executive. Talking about fairness. In advertising.
The company sued Eli Lilly because apparently when you're both charging Americans $1,000 a month for rebranded diabetes medication so they can fit into their high school jeans, someone might cross a line with their marketing claims. That line exists somewhere. Nobody knows where. But it's definitely there and Novo Nordisk found it.
This is what happens when your entire business model depends on convincing people that injectable peptides are the solution to problems that used to be solved by eating less. You end up in court arguing about whose clinical trial data makes their drug sound slightly less terrifying than the other guy's clinical trial data.
Retail traders saw this headline and immediately started Googling "which weight loss drug stock should I buy." They will somehow pick neither. They will instead find a bankrupt compounding pharmacy in Delaware that claims to make generic semaglutide and lose 70% in three weeks.
The funniest part is the word "fair." Novo Nordisk wants fair competition in the market where they've already made $20 billion selling Ozempic and Wegovy. Fair would be letting people buy this sh*t over the counter for $40. Fair would be admitting you're both selling the same molecule with different stickers. Fair would be a lot of things.
But instead we get a lawsuit about advertising claims, which will be settled in four years for an undisclosed amount, and both companies will continue charging whatever they want because Americans will pay literally anything to lose weight without effort.
The CEO defended the decision. As if anyone asked him to.
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