Novo Nordisk files fresh semaglutide patent infringement suit in District of Delaware

Context:

• Semaglutide is the active pharmaceutical ingredient at the heart of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weightloss drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus. The company last week published its annual financial report, warning investors that it expected sales to fall this year as it faces stiff competition in weight-loss drugs and lower prices (partly because of a deal it signed with President Trump). While it reported a revenue of $49 billion in 2025 (10% up from 2024), this could fall by 13% this year.
• As several key patents around semaglutide approach their expiry date (although some have had their terms extended), the company has been actively enforcing them to defend its corner of the market. It had a busy 2025, including successes such as obtaining 29 injunctions against semaglutide rivals in Germany (October 31, 2025 ip fray article) and a key win over one of its semaglutide patents in China (January 5, 2026 ip fray article). But it also suffered a couple of minor blows to its semaglutide patent portfolio in both Brazil (December 22, 2025 ip fray article) and India (December 4, 2025 ip fray article). And Novo Nordisk continues to face “flagrant, flagrant, flagrant” violation of its semaglutide patents across the world, Novo Nordisk’s Associate General Counsel Raquel Frisardi emphasized in a January 28, 2026 interview with ip fray.

What’s new: Novo Nordisk has sued telehealth medication provider Hims & Hers Health in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. It is seeking a permanent injunction.

Direct impact and wider ramifications: The patent it has asserted (United States Patent No. 8,129,343 (“Acylated GLP-1 compounds”)) is also being asserted against Viatris in a parallel action it filed in the District of Delaware (involving five patents) in January 2023. While it suffered a loss in that dispute last July over a different patent, the fact that this one is being asserted again indicates that Novo Nordisk is confident in this patent standing up in court against both Viatris and Hims & Hers (July 25, 2025 ip fray article).