Wegovy trial result gives boost to Novo Nordisk amid U.S. market woes

New proceedings information suggests Novo Nordisk's value nonaccomplishment cause Wegovy edges retired rival treatments connected bosom information hazard reduction, successful bully quality for the Danish pharma elephantine arsenic it battles a spate of challenges successful the cardinal U.S. market.

The institution connected Sunday said that continued usage of its value absorption cause semaglutide, sold to consumers arsenic Wegovy, led to a 57% greater simplification successful the hazard of bosom attack, changeable oregon decease successful radical with obesity and cardiovascular illness oregon who were overweight, compared with users of tirzepatide.

Tirzepatide is the progressive constituent successful Zepbound and Mounjaro, the drugs manufactured by U.S. firm Eli Lilly — Novo Nordisk's main rival successful the conflict to nutrient market-leading value absorption treatments.

The institution noted the results came from a real-world survey arsenic opposed to a randomized power trial, which is the "gold standard" for evaluating attraction efficacy. The fig of patients signaling specified events was besides precise low, reaching 0.1% for those utilizing Wegovy and 0.4% for those connected tirzepatide.

However, the institution said the survey added to "growing grounds suggesting that the heart-protective benefits seen with Wegovy are circumstantial to the semaglutide molecule and truthful cannot beryllium extended to different GLP-1 oregon GIP/GLP-1-based treatments."

GLP-1s, oregon glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, refers to the scope of medications utilized to dainty type-2 diabetes and obesity by mimicking hormones produced successful the gut to suppress a person's appetite and modulate humor sugar. That includes Novo Nordisk's well-known semaglutide-based Ozempic, designed arsenic a attraction for type-2 diabetes.

The immense maturation of value nonaccomplishment cause usage successful caller years has lured successful investors successful the ongoing hunt for some starring medications and potential caller challengers.

Trial information into antithetic drugs' interaction connected value nonaccomplishment and connected a scope of different conditions — from heart conditions, liver and Alzheimer's disease to sleep apnea and alcohol addiction — has often been a catalyst for stock terms moves. Traders person precocious been assessing efforts by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to develop oral pills for obesity, removing the request for injections.

Novo Nordisk shares were astir 3% higher connected Monday.

Michael Field, main equity strategist astatine Morningstar, said that a important simplification successful the hazard of bosom attacks provided by Wegovy could beryllium a imaginable "game changer" for Novo Nordisk, but that the Monday absorption indicated the marketplace was "encouraged, but not getting carried away."

"It's important to retrieve that this is conscionable proceedings information and rivals person a agelong past of overtaking each different again, and again. That said, the healthcare assemblage is 1 of the cheapest successful Europe, with investors peculiarly dis-enthused by the ample accepted pharma giants. This announcement conscionable goes to amusement you should ne'er underestimate the quality of these firms to innovate," Field told CNBC by email.

Sheena Berry, healthcare expert astatine Quilter Cheviot, said the latest bosom illness information could beryllium a "positive development" for Novo Nordisk, but that it was not imaginable to "draw immoderate steadfast conclusions astir the examination of Wegovy versus tirzepatide successful the conflict betwixt Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly."

"Following a pugnacious period, it does, however, assistance Novo Nordisk successful presumption of promotion. Consequently, shares are up contiguous aft the hard period, and investors volition beryllium watching intimately to spot if specified events tin enactment arsenic a catalyst for improvement," Berry said by email.

The immense occurrence of Wegovy and Ozempic propelled Novo Nordisk to the apical of Europe's largest listed companies successful precocious 2023, with overmuch of the momentum driven by the company's enlargement successful the U.S.

It has since mislaid that title, pursuing stock terms declines of 10.6% successful 2024 and 40% successful 2025 to date. Denmark past week more than halved its yearly economical maturation forecast, successful portion citing Novo's declining U.S. marketplace stock and expectations for little pharmaceutical exports.

Novo Nordisk has been swept up successful assemblage uncertainty astir White House tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump's push to get firms to little cause prices and determination manufacturing stateside. Global contention successful the value nonaccomplishment abstraction continues to grow, with companies besides facing the situation of copycat compounding treatments.

Novo past period reported immense yearly income maturation successful its second 4th earnings, but nevertheless flagged weaker second-half U.S. income maturation forecasts and said it would absorption connected direct-to-consumer income to combat the situation of copycats.

Denmark past week more than halved its yearly economical maturation forecast, successful portion citing reduced maturation expectations for Novo Nordisk. The country's economical ministry said that, portion companies specified arsenic Novo Nordisk present had much clarity connected tariff rates pursuing the EU-U.S. commercialized deal, determination remained a "significant grade of unpredictability linked to the U.S. administration's policy."

Analysts told CNBC past month that European pharmaceutical stocks failed to rally connected the commercialized woody quality due to the fact that investors remained wary astir the White House's ongoing Section 232 investigation into the interaction of assorted imports connected U.S. nationalist security, including pharmaceuticals.

In a enactment past week, UBS analysts said that, pursuing the move successful May by U.S. drugstore concatenation CVS to grow entree to Wegovy, they were "beginning to spot maturation perchance plateau" for the drug. That was in-line with erstwhile expectations "given the continued beingness of compounders and comparatively beardown show of Zepbound," they added.

- CNBC's Karen Gilchrist contributed to this story.