Novo CEO Mike Doesder told CNBC that the pharmaceutical giant is considering M&A opportunities as it faces increasing competition in the crowded weight loss market.
“Let’s see where the gaps are. And let’s go see who has produced or is going to introduce better drugs than we could do on our own. When that gap is filled with M&A, we’re actually very interested in that,” Dusdahl said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.
He spoke after the company faced investor pressure at a Capital Markets Day event on Monday, where the turnaround plan it announced failed to convince the market it was ready to compete when the active ingredient in weight loss drug WeGoBee begins to lose key exclusivity in the early 2030s.
Novo stocks over the past 12 months.
Novo was last trading just below its flatline, down 0.75%, after falling nearly 8% on Monday, its worst trading day since February.
“Yesterday, I think we laid out a clearer strategy for where we want to take the company. We talked about diversifying the company, but the response shows that we still have work to do to convince some investors,” Dusdahl said.
The company has outlined plans to launch five or more “multiblockbuster” drugs by 2030 and expects sales of more than 150 billion Danish kroner ($23 billion) by 2035. The company also announced a policy of aiming for profit growth on par with other companies in the same industry. Eli LillyAstraZeneca, Amgen, Biogen, Merck, AbbVie, Novartis.
The plan has disappointed investors who were hoping for a “miracle,” analysts told CNBC on Monday, especially since its growth target is in line with its peers, indicating slower-than-expected progress.
Novo’s main U.S. rival, Eli Lilly, has captured a large share of the weight-loss market with its GLP-1 injections Mounjaro and Zepbound, even years after they were introduced.
Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC on Monday that one-third of new GLP-1 patients are taking the company’s oral weight-loss drug Foundayo. “We are confident in the long term,” he said.
Novo’s stock price has fallen 34% over the past year, while Lilly’s has risen more than 54% in the past 12 months.
Dusdahl said the company plans to diversify beyond its core areas of diabetes and obesity, building a portfolio in hematology, endocrine, liver and cardiovascular diseases.
“Now is the right time to feel comfortable talking about the core of the company’s diversification into adjacent areas, which is not new to us,” he added.
“So it’s more obvious to imagine that we’re going to do more deals in non-core areas than in core areas.”
CNBC’s Elsa Ohlen contributed to this report.
