Anti-obesity drugs: pharmaceutical giants sanctioned for advertising

“I decided to act, for myself and for my health” et “Obesity is a sick thing”. These were the slogans of a display by pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Lilly France, deemed problematic by the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM).

In two documents published on May 4, 2026 (Source 1 and 2), the ANSM indicates that it has applied a financial sanction against two pharmaceutical laboratories, Novo Nordisk and Lilly France, after communication and poster campaigns on obesity. The first will have to pay a fine of more than 1.78 million euros, divided between two medicinal specialties indicated in the treatment of obesity (Saxenda and Wegovy), while Lilly France was fined 108,766 euros for a campaign advocating the use of Mounjaro, also anti-obesity medicationsubject to medical prescription.

In both cases, the Medicines Agency considered that, “ in a global context of misuse of the class of GLP-1 analogues, highly publicized, and the subject of numerous communications from health authorities », such displays, in public transport and on social networks, were likely to constitute an indirect promotion anti-obesity drugs, even though they are only reserved for certain profiles.

In the case of Lilly France for example, the ANSM considers that the campaign undertaken is “ likely to present the specialties of the Mounjaro range that it markets, (…) as the only solution offered to people with obesity or overweight, (…), even though this type of medication cannot be prescribed only as a second intention ».

Through these two decisions, the ANSM hopes to prevent any communication of this type, likely to promote the use of these medications which usage is strictly regulatedand to encourage the general public to obtain them, from a health professional or otherwise, illegally.

In a reaction sent to AFP (Source 3), the giant Novo Nordisk said it firmly contested the position of the ANSM, and announced that it would examine any possible avenue of appeal against this decision. Lilly France, for its part, indicated take note of the decision, considering, however, that its awareness campaign, broadcast in spring 2025, was in compliance with the legal framework.

In February 2026, in a publication summarizing the conclusions of an investigation (Source 4), the ANSM said it had identified 36 cases of adverse effects linked to misuse of aGLP-1 drugs to lose weight, including 25 serious cases. « The majority of these cases concern medications obtained outside the medical circuit (by a loved one, abroad or on the internet). The undesirable effects reported in the context of these misuses for the purpose of weight loss include in particular severe vomiting leading to hospitalization, hypoglycemic coma linked to the use of a supposedly falsified medicine and several acute pancreatitis », she warned.