Sanofi sues Novo Nordisk over diabetes drug availability claims

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — Sanofi filed a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk for allegedly falsely claiming Sanofi insulin drugs would no longer be available for many U.S. patients, in an effort to promote Novo Nordisk’s competing drug, Reuters reported.

The suit, filed on Dec. 23 by Sanofi U.S. in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, seeks an order requiring Novo Nordisk to pay unspecified monetary damages and withdraw marketing materials for its drug Tresiba, the news outlet reported. The marketing materials allegedly ask patients and doctors to switch from Sanofi’s Lantus and Toujeo drugs, used to treat diabetes, to Tresiba, because the Sanofi drugs will be “blocked” by pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark in January.

“(W)e believe Novo’s statements concerning CVS Caremark’s formulary decision on Lantus and Toujeo coverage contain false and misleading claims about the continued availability of Lantus and Toujeo,” a Sanofi spokesperson told Reuters.

Novo Nordisk had no comment when reached by the news source.