Novo Nordisk (NVO) has spent nearly half a billion dollars promoting its GLP-1 drugs Wegovy and Ozempic in the U.S., beating Lilly (LLY), whose U.S. advertising spend for its rival medicines Zepbound and Mounjaro exceeded $200M, Reuters reported on Wednesday based on data for the first nine months of 2025.
According to advertising tracking firm MediaRadar, the Danish drugmaker spent an estimated $316M and $169M, respectively, over the period for promotional efforts related to its weight-loss drug Wegovy and its diabetes therapy Ozempic, indicating ~54% YoY and ~44% YoY growth.
Meanwhile, Lilly’s (LLY) advertising expenditure for its obesity and diabetes products, Zepbound and Mounjaro, reached $131M and $83M for the period, respectively.
The Indiana-based drugmaker spent nearly $2M to promote Zepbound in 2024, a year after the U.S. FDA approved the once-weekly injectable for weight management in obese and overweight adults. In aggregate, Novo (NVO) spent $487M to advertise its GLP-1s, while Lilly’s (LLY) promotional cost for its dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonists reached $214M in the U.S.
The companies’ advertising budgets contrast as Novo (NVO) trails its U.S. rival in the lucrative duopoly for weight loss drugs.
According to data from healthcare analytics firm IQVIA (IQV) shared by Wall Street analysts, U.S. scripts for Zepbound exceeded those for Wegovy last year, giving LLY a share of roughly 60% in the obesity drug market.