May 30 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk said on

Thursday it had sued nine more medical spas, wellness clinics

and pharmacies in the U.S. for selling products claiming to

contain semaglutide, the key ingredient in its popular

weight-loss drug Wegovy.

The Danish drugmaker first filed lawsuits over the sale of

copycat versions of semaglutide last June, later amending one

after samples it tested were found to be as much as 33% impure.

The nine new suits name Aesthetic Maison, BOF Medical

Center, DoctorsRx, G2 Telemedicine, GenericOzempic.com, MD Exam,

MediOAK Pharmacy, Midtown Express, and Weight Loss MD as

defendants.

They were filed in federal courts in Colorado, Florida,

Illinois, Montana, Texas and Tennessee.

"Non-FDA approved compounded drugs claiming to contain

semaglutide with high levels of known impurities and unknown

impurities pose significant risks to patients and may lead to

serious and life-threatening reactions," said Doug Langa, Novo's

head of North America operations.

Novo said in its lawsuit against Aesthetic Maison that the

company was selling products claiming to contain semaglutide

directly to patients without any prescription from a medical

professional.

Testing showed Midtown Express's drug contained no

semaglutide and MediOAK's product was of a far lower strength

than advertised, Novo claimed in its lawsuits against those

entities.

Novo also filed new allegations against Florida-based

pharmacies TruLife and WellHealth, which it first sued in July.

The drugmaker said that when it tested the products being

sold by WellHealth, it found impurities of up to 24%, including

formaldehyde adduct, dimers, and other unknown impurities. Novo

said it found impurities in TruLife's products as well.

The company said it has now filed 21 lawsuits in total

against entities selling products claiming to contain

semaglutide, five of which have led to them being barred from

selling their disputed products.

Novo's biggest rival in the obesity drug market, Eli Lilly ( LLY ),

has also sued several medical spas, weight-loss clinics

and compounding pharmacies over the past year to stop them from

selling products purporting to contain tirzepatide, the active

ingredient in its weight-loss drug Zepbound.

At least four of those lawsuits from Lilly have either been

settled, withdrawn or dismissed.