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Key Takeaways
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Novo Nordisk's U.S.-listed shares tumbled over 19% Friday morning after it released data from a new weight loss drug trial.
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The new drug, CagriSema, led patients to lose 22.7% of their body weight on average, below the company's reported goal of 25%, per Bloomberg.
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The drug combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, with another ingredient meant to reduce hunger and make patients feel full for longer.
Novo Nordisk's (NVO) U.S.-listed shares sank over 19% in premarket trading Friday after releasing trial results for its next generation of weight loss drug, meant to add to its current lineup of Ozempic and Wegovy.
The Danish drugmaker's stock was down 17% Friday morning after it had already been trending lower since September, when sales slowed slightly and concerns started to grow about the increasing competition in the weight loss drug market.
New Drug Led to 22.7% Weight Loss
Novo Nordisk said Friday that in the study of just over 3,400 patients, its new injectable weight loss drug CagriSema met its primary goal, with an average weight loss of 22.7% of a patient's body weight.
That compared to 11.8% and 16.1% of body weight lost by the patients who took doses of just one of the two drugs that make up CagriSema, cagrilintide and semaglutide — the latter of which is the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.
The ingredients in the drug are designed to mimic chemicals released in the body after people eat, helping people feel full for longer, making it easier to reduce how much they eat.
The 22.7% average mark fell short of Novo Nordisk's goal reported last month by Bloomberg of 25% weight loss. Novo Nordisk said about 40% of people taking CagriSema reached the 25% mark.
Just 57% of CagriSema patients reached the highest dosage level of the drug available during the trial, compared to 82.5% and 70.2% of the cagrilintide and semaglutide patients, respectively, who took the highest dose of those drugs.
Novo Nordisk's U.S. shares were down 19.5% in premarket trading, poised to open at their lowest point since August 2023, after entering the day roughly flat this year. Shares of weight loss rival Eli Lilly (LLY) rose 7% following the trial results.
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