Revealed: experts who praised new ‘skinny jab’ received payments from drug maker
The drug giant behind weight loss injections newly approved for NHS use spent millions in just three years on an “orchestrated PR campaign” to boost its UK influence.
As part of its strategy, Novo Nordisk paid £21.7m to health organisations and professionals who in some cases went on to praise the treatment without always making clear their links to the firm, an Observer investigation has found.
Among the vocal champions of the Wegovy jabs was a clinical expert who gave evidence to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) and others who publicly praised the so-called “skinny jabs” as a “gamechanger”.
The revelations come as the Danish drug giant is investigated by the UK’s pharmaceutical watchdog after it was found to have breached the industry code seven times in relation to a “disguised promotional campaign” of another of its weight loss drugs via online webinars for healthcare professionals.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said it had ordered an audit of the firm’s practices and company culture to establish whether the breaches were a one-off or part of a wider web of compliance failures.
The 3,500-plus payments from Novo Nordisk in 2019-21 include donations, event sponsorship, grants and other fees to prominent obesity charities, NHS trusts, royal colleges, GP practices, healthcare education providers, and universities. They are in addition to £28m spent by Novo Nordisk on research and development in the UK in the same period. Novo also helped fund a group of MPs that lobbies on obesity strategy.
The Observer can reveal:
A professor who promoted the benefits of the jab on the BBCToday programme last week is a former adviser to Novo. Jason Halford is also president of an obesity
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