Healthy Returns: Novo Nordisk CEO on GLP-1 pricing, and more insights from the JPM conference

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Good greeting from San Francisco! It's time 3 of the yearly JPMorgan Healthcare Conference – the biggest gathering of biotech and pharma execs, investors and analysts successful the U.S.

The prima has been shining this week, and truthful has the sector's optimism. Several drugmakers, investors and advisors suggest that 2026 is already shaping up to beryllium a bully — oregon astatine slightest amended — twelvemonth than the last, with large cause pricing and tariff headwinds mostly settled, involvement rates falling, and, astir importantly, encouraging subject emerging from companies large and small.

On the dealmaking front, it's been comparatively quiescent this week. No large tie-ups person been announced, but that doesn't mean they aren't connected the way. Meanwhile, companies are charting their twelvemonth ahead, highlighting cardinal concern and cause pipeline updates. 

Here's a recap of what I've heard from my conversations with a fewer large CEOs. 

Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar told maine successful a Monday interrogation that the company's brand-new oral GLP-1 for obesity, the Wegovy pill, and its injectable counterpart nether the aforesaid sanction volition let it to grow the incretin marketplace successful 2026. 

But helium said this twelvemonth "will beryllium the twelvemonth of terms pressure" pursuing a drug pricing deal Novo Nordisk struck with President Donald Trump successful November, on with the instauration of cheaper generic versions of immoderate of the company's drugs successful definite planetary markets. 

"When the terms goes down, you consciousness the interaction of it immediately," Doustdar said. But helium added that the institution seeks to physique measurement maturation to offset those terms cuts, which "will not beryllium overnight." 

Doustdar added that connected apical of progressing its ain pipeline, Novo Nordisk volition beryllium progressive connected the concern improvement broadside to "see if anyone other retired determination has thing that tin complement our ain pipeline." Those comments travel aft Novo Nordisk mislaid a heated bidding warfare with Pfizer past twelvemonth implicit the obesity biotech Metsera. 

Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner told maine successful a Tuesday interrogation that the institution has the imaginable to present up to 10 caller products by the extremity of the decade. Those comments travel arsenic Bristol Myers Squibb prepares to offset losses from an upcoming nonaccomplishment of exclusivity rhythm of blockbuster drugs implicit the adjacent respective years, which volition let generic competitors to travel to the market. 

"We've intentionally built this portfolio to beryllium rather divers and truthful portion we cognize not everything is going to work, we consciousness truly bully astir the substrate we person successful late-stage development, and the mid-stage pipeline is besides progressing nicely," helium said. 

Boerner highlighted 11 late-stage programme readouts successful 2026 crossed six imaginable caller products. That includes the upcoming Alzheimer's psychosis trials — called the Adept programme – for Cobenfy, the company's medicine medicine approved successful precocious 2024 for treating adults with schizophrenia. 

When it comes to concern development, Boerner said the institution is "casting a wide net." He added that Bristol Myers Squibb is hoping to physique connected the halfway therapeutic areas it knows well, look crossed antithetic phases of improvement and absorption connected "the best, astir innovative subject that we tin find" to tackle difficult-to-treat diseases. 

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the institution is "all successful connected obesity" pursuing its astir $10 cardinal acquisition of the obesity biotech Metsera past year. Speaking to a radical of reporters connected Monday, Bourla said the institution plans to motorboat 10 antithetic late-stage studies of obesity products from Metsera by the extremity of the year, including 1 survey it started ​in November. 

He besides said determination were a fewer things Pfizer didn't instrumentality into relationship erstwhile negotiating that Metsera deal, including the ample out-of-pocket marketplace for obesity drugs, wherever patients are consenting to wage for treatments with cash. Bourla likened the accidental to Pfizer's acquisition with Viagra, which the institution launched successful 1998.

"Both Lilly and Novo presented their income and had important income extracurricular the reimbursement system. Basically, extracurricular the U.S., we were calculating precise constricted sales," Bourla said. "Now we spot that this operates astir similar ‌Viagra, wherever radical were consenting to wage and bargain it, though it was not reimbursed astatine all."

And here's immoderate of the different pharma quality that came up during the conference: 

• Eli Lilly and Nvidia connected Monday announced that the 2 companies would jointly put up to $1 billion implicit 5 years to make a laboratory successful San Francisco focused connected utilizing AI to accelerate cause discovery.
• AbbVie connected Monday struck a woody with the Trump medication to little immoderate of its cause prices and put $100 cardinal domestically implicit the adjacent decennary successful speech for an exemption from tariffs and "future pricing mandates." The institution is present among much than a twelve ample drugmakers that struck akin agreements with Trump arsenic portion of his "most favored nation" policy.
• AbbVie also said Monday it has agreed to wage $650 cardinal upfront to licence an experimental crab therapy from China's RemeGen, successful a woody that could yet beryllium worthy astir $5.6 billion. 

Feel escaped to nonstop immoderate tips, suggestions, communicative ideas and information to Annika astatine a caller email: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.