Novo Nordisk breached ABPI Code after employee reposted Financial Times LinkedIn post mentioning Wegovy and Ozempic

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Key facts

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Case	AUTH/3867/12/23
Company	Novo Nordisk Ltd
Complaint	Alleged promotion on LinkedIn (employee reposted Financial Times post linking to article mentioning Wegovy and Ozempic)
Complainant	Anonymous, non-contactable; described themselves as a health professional
Platform	LinkedIn
Products mentioned	Wegovy (semaglutide); Ozempic (semaglutide)
Key conduct	Employee reposted FT post with own comment; another UK employee “liked” the repost
Audience factors	Employee based in UK; ~1,000 followers including members of the UK public; Panel considered likely UK audience and likely inclusion of health professionals
Applicable Code year	2021
Breach clauses	Clause 3.6; Clause 5.1; Clause 8.1
Sanctions	Undertaking received; Additional sanctions: Not stated
Complaint received	19 December 2023
Case completed	14 August 2024
Appeal	No appeal

Reviewed by Dr Anzal Qurbain (FFPM) — ABPI Final Signatory

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An anonymous, non-contactable complainant (self-described health professional) raised concerns about a Novo Nordisk employee’s LinkedIn activity involving a Financial Times (FT) post.
The employee used LinkedIn’s “repost with your thoughts” function to share an FT post announcing a Novo Nordisk global senior leader as FT “Person of the Year 2023”, adding their own congratulatory comment.
The FT post mentioned Wegovy (semaglutide) and Ozempic (semaglutide) and linked to an FT article containing strongly positive statements about the medicines, including references to potential off-label uses.
The employee was not employed by Novo Nordisk Ltd (UK affiliate) but was physically based in the UK and had ~1,000 followers, including members of the UK public.
Novo Nordisk stated neither the employee repost nor the original FT post had been approved by Novo Nordisk.
After the company became aware, the employee removed the repost; Novo Nordisk also identified that one UK employee had “liked” the repost and asked them to “unlike” it.
Novo Nordisk had a UK Social Media Policy (read-and-sign training completed by the employee) stating that liking/sharing/commenting is proactive dissemination and instructing employees not to like/share/comment on posts that mention Novo Nordisk products.

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