novo nordisk Shares fell 15% on Monday after the company announced it did not meet a key goal of showing its next-generation weight loss drug is as good as other products. Eli Lilly”rival drug.
Novo said in a statement Monday morning that the drug, Kaglisema, failed to meet its primary endpoint of demonstrating non-inferiority in weight loss after 84 weeks compared to Eli Lilly’s rival drug, tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Lilly’s blockbuster drugs Munjaro and Zepbound, which have overtaken Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, sold by prescription in the U.S. as Ozempic and Wigovy.
Novo’s Copenhagen-listed shares last fell 15% to DKK 256, the lowest since June 2021.
Eli Lilly‘s stock rose 3.5% in pre-market trading.
Novo Nordisk ADR has significantly underperformed Eli Lilly stock.
Novo said patients who took 2.4 mg of Kaglisema achieved a 23% weight loss after 84 weeks, while patients who took 15 mg of tirzepatide achieved a 25.5% weight loss.
Novo said it is considering additional trials testing Kaglisema, including higher-dose combinations. The company has high hopes for the drug, which combines semaglutide with kagrylintide, another hormone released by the pancreas that affects appetite.
“Kaglisema has the potential to be the first GLP-1/amylin combination product to market for obese patients, demonstrating that kaglilintide adds to the existing benefits of semaglutide and offers superiority over that observed with GLP-1 biology alone. “We have demonstrated that the drug provides a clinically meaningful additive weight loss effect,” said Chief Scientific Officer Martin Horst Lange, adding that further trials “will evaluate the full weight loss potential of Kaglisema.”
Still, Monday’s trial results are another blow to the Danish drugmaker. This comes after stocks fell by nearly 50% in 2025, falling short of drugs already on the market.
Earlier this month, Novo predicted sales and profit growth would fall between 5% and 13% in 2026 as it overcomes competition, lower prices in the U.S. and loss of exclusivity for Wigobee and Ozempic in certain markets.
“People should expect the stock price to fall before it recovers,” CEO Mike Doesder told CNBC at the time.
