Shares collapse after new study

 

Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk collapses – 1,000 billion wiped out

TT

Updated 12.53 | Published 12.05

The Danish pharmaceutical wonder Novo Nordisk has in recent years sailed up and become Europe's most valued company. On Friday, the stock price collapses after a study.

It is the drugs Ozempic and Wegovy that inhibit appetite and thus lead to weight loss that are behind the company's success.

Now, however, the company is plummeting by over 20 percent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

The collapse is due to a published phase 3 study that shows that patients who used the company's new drug Cagrisema achieved a weight loss of 22.7 percent after 68 weeks of treatment.

This was better than the other drugs in the comparative study, but worse than the 25 percent that Novo Nordisk stated that the drug has potential for.

Novo Nordisk's drug Ozempic. Photo: Joe O'Connal / AP

1,000 billion in market value erased

According to Bloomberg, the study was important for Novo Nordisk because its main competitor, the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has developed a drug that has proven to be even more effective than Wegovy when it comes to weight loss. A number of other competitors are also noseing the company by the neck with new slimming drugs in the pipeline.

The entire market could be worth up to $ 130 billion by 2030, according to the news agency.

The 20 percent decline means that more than 1,000 billion Swedish kronor in market value has been erased from Novo Nordisk since the closing price on Thursday.

The broad index of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in turn falls more than 12 percent after the announcement from the pharmaceutical giant.