Novo Nordisk shares tumbled in pre-market trading on Monday after its experimental obesity drug CagriSema failed to match the weight-loss efficacy of Eli Lilly’s rival therapy.
In US premarket trade, Novo’s shares were down more than 13%. In Europe, its Copenhagen-listed stock fell 12.9% to 263 Danish kroner, hitting its lowest level since July 2021. By contrast, Eli Lilly shares rose 3.5% in US premarket dealings.
Novo said CagriSema did not achieve its primary endpoint of demonstrating non-inferiority on weight loss compared with tirzepatide after 84 weeks. Patients taking a 2.4 mg dose of CagriSema recorded 23% weight loss, versus 25.5% for those on a 15 mg dose of tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Lilly’s mega-blockbuster drug Mounjaro and Zepbound, which have overtaken Novo’s semaglutide-based Ozempic and Wegovy in US prescriptions.
CagriSema combines semaglutide with cagrilintide, a hormone released in the pancreas that affects appetite. Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange said the drug “has the potential to be the first GLP-1/amylin-combination product” for obesity and added that further trials would “assess the full weight-loss potential of CagriSema.”
Novo said it plans additional studies, including higher-dose combinations, as competition intensifies in the obesity drug market.
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The result adds to pressure on the company, whose shares have already fallen sharply this year. Earlier this month, Novo forecast a 5% to 13% decline in sales and profit growth in 2026 amid intensifying competition, lower US prices and loss of exclusivity in some markets.
