Swiss regulator and media clash over weight-loss drugs

Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic has taken legal action against media houses in Switzerland for what they argue is unauthorised advertising for drugs used for weight loss like Ozempic and Wegovy. Swiss media say this amounts to censorship. There is no shortage of headlines about the latest GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss, such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. In the last two years alone, there have been over 840 media reports in Switzerland with Ozempic in the headline, according to the Swiss Media Databank. For Swiss medicines regulator Swissmedic, some of these articles have gone too far in the direction of advertising. Last Tuesday, Swiss daily 20 Minuten reported that Swissmedic had ordered three Swiss media groups – Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), Ringier and 20 Minuten – “to, under threat of punishment, delete online articles about Ozempic and Co”. According to Swissmedic, these articles constitute adverts for prescription drugs, which isn’t allowed under the country’s ...