Medical bottles and syringes are displayed on a screen in the background with the Novo Nordisk logo.
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Novo nordiskAfter a series of trial results, a new era of treatment of obesity is expected after falling shares falling on shares.
The headline results from a readyplace -2 late -stage trial released earlier this month showed that Novo’s next generation Cagreresma lost 15.7% of its weight in 68 weeks to adult patients with type 2 diabetes, while compared to 3.1% with Placebo. It was already less than the high-ending percentage of the forecast.
A pre -staging test published in December showed that the drug helped in patients with one or more comrades, but not type -2 diabetes, after 68 weeks, their weight was reduced by 22.7%, it is also expected below 25%.
Both results eradicated the significant value from the price of Novo’s share, as the company’s current Vegovi injection and zebound of rival Elli Lily, both expected to find a better option for GLP -1 drugs.
Once the darling stock is now about 50% below its 2024 heights.
Emily Field, head of European Pharmaceuticals Research in Barclays, told CNBC over the phone on Wednesday, “The feeling towards these people is as negative as ever.”
Novo nordisk
Field said, “The stock reaction was feeling inconsistent, but there is no buyer who is offset to vendors,” given that some American hedge funds were now shortening stock, either more than the results of the test or more than extensive concerns about the high evaluation in the drug industry due to test results.
One next-round obesity treatment
Cagrisma is a combination of Cagrilintide – a newborn form of treatment of weight loss known as an amilin analog – and semglutide, active ingredients in the vegovi.
It was expected that the drug would offer better weight loss for diabetic patients, who usually have a difficult time on existing GLP -1 remedies, but the redifine -2 test disappointed the result of weight loss 15.7%.
Bofa Global Research said in a note last week, “We saw Cagrisma to demonstrate better weight loss for Zapebounds in view of the amilin component;
Right now a very, very short -term focus. People are not just thinking about broader ability,.
Emily Field
Head of European Pharmaceuticals Research in Barclays
Meanwhile, with less than two-thirds patients progressing for the highest dose after 68 weeks, questions are around the tolerance of Cagrisma. Novo said last week that Cagrisma was “well tolerated” and the most common adverse effects were gastrointestinal, but they were “lightly moderate and reduced over time.”
Pharma Equity Analyst Soren Lontoft in SIDBank told CNBC on Tuesday, “Investors are looking for treatment options, which are the best in the classroom and will secure the location of Novo in the drug market of obesity.” “We are not sure Cagrisma is best in class.”
However, an upcoming redefine-4 study, due to the release of 2026, may provide forward color on the efficacy of the drug at an extended duration and more flexible doses-some Lontoft said that it could vary.
“It can achieve superiority,” said Lontoft.
Extension of weight loss treatment
The weight -loss industry is divided on the wide applications and results of obesity beyond the total weight loss. In a separate note last week, Bofa said it had become “slightly more alert on discrimination” in the treatment of obesity and diabetes following the latest results of Cagrisma.
Field said, “Right now a very, very short -term focus. People are not just thinking about broader ability.”
Lontoft pointed to the need for a variety of treatments to address obesity and related health risks, such as heart disease, sleep apnea, and liver disease – areas where drugs have already been shown to make headways.
“This is about addressing various requirements in this market,” he said. He said, “Companies who are able to meet these different needs – in combination with significant production capacity – take the largest part of this market,” he said.
Other firms are expecting to join the market, which is expected to exceed $ 100 billion by 2030. Earlier this month, Swiss pharmaceutical legend Rosh signed a deal of up to $ 5.3 billion to develop Danish Biotech Zelarland Pharma’s Emiline Analog Obesity Drug candidate.
Investors and patients will have to wait for some time to launch such products, however, Zelarland Pharma CEO and Chairman Adam STENTGG told CNBC that they expect them to come to the market around 2030. Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, said it is expected to file for regulatory approval in the first quarter of 2026.
Nevertheless, the company has any way to go to start some of the earlier promotions around the drug. Asked if the investors would recognize it as one of the many possible options of the existing heavyweight, Soren was alert: “No, but I think they will eventually do.”
