Novo Nordisk weight-loss project for Lolland residents criticized as naive and pure marketing

A project offering free weight-loss medication and exercise to 100 severely obese citizens in Lolland, who are on the edge of the labor market, has drawn sharp criticism from experts who describe it as naive and as pure marketing for Novo Nordisk’s products, DR reports.

The initiative, a collaboration between Region Zealand, Lolland Municipality, Novo Nordisk, and Den Sociale Kapitalfond, provides participants with two years of free weight-loss medication, training at the municipal fitness center, and dietary guidance. The stated goal is to reduce doctor visits and help participants either find or keep a job.

Critics argue that the project’s premise is fundamentally flawed. Rasmus Køster-Rasmussen, a general practitioner and researcher at the University of Copenhagen, called it “naive and narrow-minded.” He said the assumption that weight is the core problem and weight loss the solution ignores more complex social and health factors. “People are typically not unemployed because they are obese, but because of a range of other explanations,” he said, adding that the project reflects a classic Novo Nordisk approach of viewing well-being through the lens of weight.

Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, professor of research methods in medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, criticized the absence of a control group. Without one, he said, it is impossible to determine whether any effects stem from the medication, the training, or other factors. He noted a “very high risk” that the project will lead to conclusions that public investment in free weight-loss medication for severely obese people is worthwhile. He also accused Novo Nordisk of using the project as marketing, saying it resembles studies used in the United States “to plant an idea” – in this case, that medicine can solve social problems.

Project organizers rejected the criticism. Jan Kanne, innovation chief at Region Zealand, said the project is not research but innovation, meaning it can be adjusted along the way. “With a research project, you lock yourself into a research protocol. With innovation, we look at the whole picture,” he said. Mads W. Ø. Larsen, head of Novo Nordisk Denmark, described the project as holistic and argued that a control group already exists in the form of severely obese people who do not receive the intervention.

Køster-Rasmussen also pointed to well-documented evidence that most people regain weight after stopping the medication. He warned that participants, many of whom have tried numerous diets, will likely put weight back on once the injections stop. “The net result for these people is that they get sent back to square one,” he said.

The project’s effects are to be evaluated after five years.