Regular readers may recall my recent post in which I discussed the possibility of an emerging trend of D&O claims related to GLP-1 drugs. GLP-1 drugs are sold under manufacturers’ brand names as weight loss and obesity treatments – such as, for example Ozempic for treatment of diabetes, and Wegovy for weight loss treatment. In my prior post, I discussed a recent example of a GLP-1-related D&O claim, a securities class action lawsuit against the telehealth platform Hims & Hers Health.

In a new lawsuit that represents yet another example of a GLP-1-related D&O claim, a plaintiff shareholder has launched a securities suit against the Danish drug company, Novo Nordisk, based on the company’s alleged misrepresentations concerning its ability to capitalize on the overall GLP-1 market. As also discussed further below, in the course of my research for this post, I also uncovered yet another GLP-1 D&O claims as well.

The most recent lawsuit, filed in the District of New Jersey on August 1, 2025, against Novo Nordisk and certain of its directors and officers, purports to be filed on behalf of investors who purchased Novo Nordisk securities between May 7, 2025, and July 28, 2025. A copy of the complaint can be found here.

The plaintiffs allege that during the class period the defendants expressed confidence in the company’s ability to continue to grow GLP-1 sales by capitalizing on the significant size, low penetration, and overall potential of the GLP-1 market, including Novo Nordisk’s ability to capitalize on patients who would no longer be able to utilize their preferred compounded GLP-1 alternative.

At the same time the defendants allegedly made these reassuring statements, the defendants also, the complaint alleges, concealed that the company’s “alleged potential to capitalize on the compounded market greatly understated the potential impact of the personalization exception to the compounded GLP-1 exclusion and overstated the likelihood such patients would switch to Novo’s branded alternatives, and further greatly overstated the potential of the GLP-1 market or otherwise Novo’s capability to penetrate said markets to achieve continued growth.”

The complaint alleges that these statements cause the company’s securities to trade at inflated prices. The complaint further alleges that when the company later lowered its sales and profit outlook when it reported its second quarter results, owing to lowered growth expectations for its flagship GLP-1 drugs, Wegovy and Ozempiac, due to the persistent use of compounded GLP-1s, lower than expected market expansion and competition. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint seeks to recover damages on behalf of the class.

Readers who noted my prior post about GLP-1 drugs (to which I linked above) will recall that the defendant in the lawsuit discussed in the prior post, Hims and Hers, is an online drug sales platform that is attempting to sell compounded alternatives to GLP-1 drugs, by taking advantage of the personalization exception. (These terms – “compounded alternatives” and “personalization exception” — are all explained in greater detail in the prior post.) In many ways, the new lawsuit against Novo Nordisk is simply the other side of the coin from the lawsuit previously alleged against Hims. That is, Hims is trying to prosper by offering compounded drugs in reliance on the personalization exception, while Novo Nordisk is facing competition from these alternatives. Interestingly, the same law firm filed both suits.

Nor are these two lawsuits the only examples of GLP-1 drug-related securities lawsuit filings. In doing the research for this post, I learned that in fact earlier this year Novo Nordisk was sued in a separate securities class action lawsuit relating the company’s efforts to develop an alternative GLP-1 weight loss drug.

As discussed here, in January 2025, Novo Nordisk and certain of its executives were sued in the District of New Jersey in a securities class action lawsuit. The lawsuit purports to be filed on behalf of investors who purchased the company’s securities on behalf of investors who purchased the company’s securities between November 2, 2022, and December 19, 2024.

This prior complaint’s allegations relate to the company’s efforts to develop a new weight loss candidate, CagriSema, though a clinical trial process called Redefine. The development of this drug candidate was important to the company’s investors, as the company was at a competitive disadvantage to Lilly, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 weight loss drug competitor, because Lilly’s weight loss drug reportedly produced better weight loss results  for at least some patients. It was hoped that Novo Nordisk’s new weigh loss drug candidate would produce weight loss results superior to those of Lilly’s drug. However, the Phase III trial results for the drug were disappointing. The weight loss results for the trial participants were well below Novo Nordisk’s expectation. The company’s share price declined on the news of the clinical trial results and plaintiff shareholders filed the lawsuit.

So with the addition of the prior Novo Nordisk lawsuit, as well as the new Novo Nordisk lawsuit filed last week, the tally of GLP-1 related securities lawsuit now stand at three. To be sure, two of the lawsuits are against the same company (Novo Nordisk) and two of the three lawsuits (against Hims and Novo Nordisk) arguably represent two sides of the same coin. Nevertheless, there are now three lawsuits total representing GLP-1 related D&O claims, consistent with my conjecture about the possibility for claims of this type.

To be sure, none of the lawsuits so far relate to the kind of safety and consumer protection issues that I am concerned might later lead to GLP-1-related lawsuits against companies involved in manufacturing, distributing, or selling the drugs. Even if there are now three GLP-1 lawsuits, it remains to be seen whether safety and consumer protection related D&O suits will develop. Moreover, even if these kinds of lawsuits ever do develop, it could be some time before they emerge.

But that said, there is now at least a small set of these kinds of lawsuits filed.