Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk underwhelms investors with soft Wegovy pill sales

NOVO Nordisk’s popular Wegovy weight loss pill disappointed investors with sales that failed to live up to the hype of an obesity drug whose launch was billed the most successful in history.

The revenue, at 3.2 billion Danish kroner (US$494 million), was no better than analysts’ estimates when the company reported quarterly earnings late on Tuesday (Aug 4).

What is more, the next generation obesity shot CagriSema once again fell short in a study comparing it with rival Eli Lilly’s blockbuster Zepbound.

The Wegovy pill’s fast launch had primed investors for the possibility of a blowout as Novo fights to regain market share from Lilly. Yet the result raised concerns about the company’s longer-term competitiveness. 

“This leaves many questions open for 2027,” said Michael Leuchten, an analyst at Jefferies. 

Novo shares fell as much as 7.1 per cent in Copenhagen. They have dropped 11 per cent so far in 2026.

By contrast, Lilly surged after the US drugmaker boosted its forecast and reported better-than-expected earnings. In an interview with CNBC, chief executive officer Dave Ricks said that Lilly is leading the obesity market “almost everywhere in the world”.  

The volume of demand for Novo’s Wegovy pill was offset by lower prices, CEO Mike Doustdar said.

Looking forward, profitability is set to improve as patients move to the costlier higher doses and Novo continues to make its manufacturing more efficient, Doustdar said in a Bloomberg television interview.

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The next Wegovy pill launch will be in Germany, the largest drug market in Europe, Doustdar said.

Seeking deals

The CEO batted away questions about whether Novo would be open to a transformative deal multiple times in the course of the day’s calls with journalists and investors.

“One day, maybe,” Doustdar said in a call with analysts. “You have to be in a very different situation than Novo Nordisk is today.” 

The drugmaker is instead looking actively for acquisitions to complement the existing lineup, he said. 

Novo is locked in a fight with Lilly in obesity, a market Bloomberg Intelligence estimates will reach US$120 billion a year by 2030.

In a sign of how intense the struggle between drugmakers has become, Novo sued Lilly on Jul 21, accusing the US company of misleading advertising for its shots Zepbound and Mounjaro. Lilly has disputed the claims.

‘Not heroic’ 

Novo also raised its forecasts on Tuesday, saying the worst drop for sales and profit will probably be 6 per cent this year, compared with an earlier estimate of as much as 12 per cent at constant exchange rates.

The upgrade was “clearly not heroic”, Jared Holz, Mizuho Securities healthcare strategist, said in a note. “The lack of upside for Wegovy pill” compared to expectations weighed on the stock, he said.

The company said weekly prescriptions in the US topped 265,000 the week ending Jul 17. It has captured about 90 per cent of the oral obesity market. 

Novo has faced other recent setbacks. A closely watched experimental shot intended to reduce cardiovascular risks failed in a late-stage study, the company reported recently. The results erased Novo’s share gains for the year.

The experimental CagriSema, meantime, could not deliver as much blood sugar control as Zepbound in a large trial.

It is the second time in 2026 that the new drug has failed to match Lilly’s blockbuster, marking another “scratch in CagriSema’s paint”, Claus Henrik Johansen, CEO at Global Health Invest, said in a LinkedIn post. BLOOMBERG