Novo Nordisk Shares Shoot Up Amid Promising Results For Anti-obesity Pill

The worth of nan drugmaker Novo Nordisk has changeable up by much than £6.5bn aft investigation showed its caller anti-obesity pill resulted successful almost arsenic overmuch weight nonaccomplishment arsenic its Wegovy jab, arsenic it races against its US rival Eli Lilly to get a tablet curen to market.

Stock successful nan Danish institution climbed by much than 4.5% connected Thursday greeting connected hopes it could claw backmost marketplace stock mislaid to Eli Lilly and cheaper generic versions of GLP-1 drugs. Shares person fallen astir 60% successful nan past twelvemonth arsenic income slowed.

Novo Nordisk said connected Thursday that a once-daily pill type of Wegovy achieved “significant weight” nonaccomplishment successful a objective trial, pinch adjacent to 1 successful 3 participants losing 20% aliases much weight. Side-effects were akin to nan injectable version.

It is nan first oral GLP-1 supplier submitted to nan US regulator, nan Food and Drug Administration, and nan institution expects a determination connected whether nan FDA will o.k. it for usage by nan extremity of nan year. Production has already begun astatine Novo Nordisk’s US sites.

The Danish institution is going caput to caput pinch Eli Lilly’s regular weight nonaccomplishment pill, called orforglipron. On Tuesday, nan US drugmaker said that one successful 5 group mislaid 20% aliases much weight complete 72 weeks, successful a proceedings of 3,127 adults. Patients mislaid 12.4% of their assemblage weight connected mean astatine nan highest dose.

It developed orforglipron pinch a compound it acquired from Japan’s Chugai Pharmaceutical successful 2018. Eli Lilly plans to taxable nan pill to nan regulator for support later this year, and immoderate analysts opportunity it could beryllium fast-tracked by nan FDA. Analysts astatine Jefferies estimate highest income of $25bn a twelvemonth for orforglipron.

Matthew Weston, a UBS analyst, said he saw “clear leadership” for Novo’s oral obesity pill, “albeit orforglipron still presents a threat connected being a much scalable product, and truthful perchance discounted price. It besides doesn’t require nan 30 minutes fasting, truthful could beryllium seen arsenic a much convenient option.”

While anti-obesity jabs, which mimic a gut hormone called GLP-1, person been immensely popular, they are very expensive, particularly aft Eli Lilly’s caller value summation of up to 170% successful nan UK. The NHS has constricted their readiness to group pinch precocious objective need.

Pill versions are easier to manufacture, store, administer and administer and are expected to beryllium cheaper, paving nan measurement for millions much group to suffer weight astatine a clip erstwhile obesity is expanding astir nan world.

The shares of GLP-1 drugmakers person vastly outperformed pharmaceutical companies that do not make those weight nonaccomplishment drugs. The finance level eToro said connected Tuesday a handbasket of Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Teva and Hikma stocks roseate by 106% complete nan past 5 years, while a handbasket of Johnson & Johnson, GSK, AbbVie and Bayer roseate by conscionable 27%. Eli Lilly shares are up by astir 395% complete nan play while Novo Nordisk is still 69% ahead, contempt its crisp diminution successful nan past year.