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Novo Nordisk (NVO) stock was down more than 8% Monday morning after the Danish drugmaker shared new data on its next-generation GLP-1 drug, CagriSema.
The drug, a mix of cagrilintide and semaglutide, a key ingredient in the company's current blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is being tested for obesity and Type 2 diabetes as a once-weekly injectable.
Results from the Phase 3 trial show weight loss of as much as 15.7%, roughly the same as the company's current drugs.
(NVO)
This bodes poorly for Novo as it competes with Eli Lilly's (LLY) Mounjaro and Zepbound, which offer more than 20% weight loss and have gained US market share in the past year.
"While FDA shortages of semaglutide have officially concluded, Zepbound scripts remain higher than Wegovy. We will closely watch this dynamic to continue to assess whether the end of shortage allows Novo the opportunity to recapture share in the US obesity market," wrote BMO analyst Evan Seigerman in a note to analysts.
In addition, producing CagriSema is more difficult than the current weight-loss drugs, and analysts believe it isn't going to produce significant profits for Novo.
"Recall that CagriSema is more difficult to manufacture than tirzepatide due to its dual-chamber device, and NVO's future manufacturing capacity is TBD," wrote Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger in a note to clients Monday.
Novo expects to file for approval with the FDA in early 2026, with full details of the trial to be shared this year.
Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem.