Novo Nordisk Subject to Ozempic Injury Lawsuit in Louisiana

Danish companies Novo Nordisk AS and Novo Nordisk North America Operations AS are subject to a Louisiana woman’s Ozempic injury suit in that state, a federal judge said.

The companies’ connections to Louisiana are sufficient and linked closely enough to plaintiff Jaclyn Bjorklund’s claims to support jurisdiction, Judge James D. Cain Jr. of the the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said Thursday.

Bjorklund alleges she was harmed by Ozempic and a similar Eli Lilly & Co. drug, Mounjaro. She says she suffered extreme vomiting, including bouts so severe that she lost teeth.

Ozempic and Mounjaro are diabetes drugs that have become increasingly popular for weight loss.

Novo Nordisk AS’s voluntary and purposeful contacts with Louisiana support the court’s personal jurisdiction over that defendant, Cain said.

The company developed Ozempic and placed it into the “stream of commerce” with the expectation that it would reach every corner of the US, including Louisiana, Cain said. The record shows the drug’s growing popularity in Louisiana, the sizable role of the US in Ozempic’s global market, and Novo Nordisk AS’s direct presence in the state through employees and clinical research, the court said.

Although there is little information publicly available about Novo Nordisk North American Operations AS, its name suggests that it’s a “link in the stream-of-commerce chain,” the court said.

Its apparent role as distributor or promoter of Ozempic in the US also provides sufficient minimum contacts for personal jurisdiction, the court said.

Bjorklund’s lawsuit “plainly arises out of both entities’ forum-related contacts because she has alleged that she was injured through her use of Ozempic, the product manufactured by Novo Nordisk A/S and targeted toward this state,” Cain said.

The suit also includes US-based Novo Nordisk units and Eli Lilly.

Bjorklund has asked the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to combine federal lawsuits involving these medications into a single proceeding. Novo Nordisk said it supports merging the lawsuits. Eli Lilly and a group of plaintiffs said Lilly shouldn’t be part of a unified proceeding because it’s only named in a few suits.

The panel is set to hear the matter at its January session.

Morgan & Morgan represents Bjorklund. Adams & Reese LLP and DLA Piper LLP represent Novo Nordisk.

The case is Bjorklund v. Novo Nordisk A/S, W.D. La., No. 2:23-cv-01020, 1/18/24.