Novo Nordisk announced up to 50% price cuts for Ozempic and Wegovy diabetes and weight-loss drugs starting January 2027, lowering costs to $675 per dose.
The demos were real. The use cases were compelling.
The failure of its next-generation obesity drug to match Eli Lilly's blockbuster has blown a hole in Novo's post-Ozempic strategy, with analysts slashing price targets and two major banks walking away from bullish positions Novo Nordisk's (NYSE:NVO) last best hope for life after semaglutide has stumbled badly. The Danish drugmaker's CagriSema combination jab failed on Monday to demonstrate non-inferior weight loss against Eli Lilly's Zepbound in the REDEFINE-4 phase III trial, a result that has prompted two high-profile analyst downgrades and forced a broad reassessment of the company's long-term earnings power.
Novo Nordisk A/S remains a buy despite CagriSema's failure to match tirzepatide in head-to-head trials, as the market overreacts to short-term setbacks. NVO's oral Wegovy pill is poised to drive future growth, offering superior convenience, strong efficacy, and rapid uptake, especially outside the US when it gains approval. Current negative sentiment and market share losses are offset by robust international growth, resilient fundamentals, and a compelling valuation at 13x forward earnings.
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it plans to slash the U.S. list prices of its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic by up to 50% and 35% respectively as of January next year.
The reductions will take effect next January, and both Ozempic and Wegovy will list for $675 a month.
Novo Nordisk's stock dropped 16% on February 23rd after clinical trial results indicated that its experimental weight-loss medication, CagriSema, did not perform as well as Eli Lilly's competing drug, Mounjaro. The trial results showed that CagriSema produced lower weight loss outcomes compared to Lilly's GLP-1 therapy, which is a significant setback given that the race for obesity drugs is increasingly favoring a winner-takes-most scenario.
Novo Nordisk's study showing a new drug wasn't as good as a rival's led one sell-side analyst to downgrade the stock for the first time in five years.
Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday its triple agonist UBT251 of the receptors for GLP-1, GIP and glucagon, jointly developed with United Biotechnology, achieved a statistically significant mean weight loss of up to 19.7% after 24 weeks in a trial.
The weight-loss drug wars took a fresh turn on Monday.
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Novo Nordisk's experimental weekly shot CagriSema was shown to lead to less dramatic weight loss compared to rival Lilly's Tirzepatide, the drug behind Zepbound and Mounjaro, in an 84-week trial, Novo announced Monday, causing its stock to collapse in pre-market trading.