Boxes of Ozempic and Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
Shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk plummeted more than 24% at one point on Friday after reporting results in a late-stage trial for its experimental CagriSema weight loss drug that missed expectations.
The maker of the wildly popular Wegovy obesity drug said its new drug candidate helped patients reduce their weight by 22.7%, below the 25% it told CNBC it had previously forecast.
The stock had pared some losses to trade down around 17% at 11:57 a.m. London time. Shares of rival obesity drug maker Eli Lilly jumped 10% in pre-market trade
The trial results deal a blow to expectations that CagriSema could become a next-generation obesity drug. The two-drug injectable treatment combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, along with amylin analog Cagrilintide, a nascent form of weight loss treatment.
In comments to CNBC, however, Novo said that CagriSema had outperformed Wegovy in weight reduction and that its performance was “on par with best-in-class treatments.”
“We are encouraged by the weight loss profile of CagriSema demonstrating superiority over both semaglutide and cagrilintide in monotherapy in the REDEFINE 1 trial. This was achieved even though only 57% of patients reached the highest CagriSema dose,” Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for Development at Novo Nordisk, said in a separate press release.
“With the insights obtained from the REDEFINE 1 trial, we plan to further explore the additional weight loss potential of CagriSema,” he added.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
