Novo Nordisk shares drop more than 4% on disappointing obesity pill data

By Maggie Fick and Greta Rosen Fondahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO ) fell more than 4% on Friday to their lowest level since Aug. 10 after the Danish drugmaker reported results from a Phase 2a trial of its experimental obesity pill monlunabant that came in below market expectations.

Shares were down 4.3% at 1330 GMT, the lowest since August 8, after the company announced headline results from its trial of monlunabant, an experimental drug it acquired as part of its $1 billion purchase of Canadian biotech company Inversago Pharmaceuticals last year.

The company said at its capital markets day in March that it expected that weight loss could reach 15%, on par with its mega-blockbuster obesity injection Wegovy.



But in the headline trial results released on Friday, the once-daily pill resulted in only 6.5% weight loss after 16 weeks.

That weight loss is "not what optimists are looking for", Nordnet analysts told Reuters. "Competition is intensifying. Investors are getting more cautious about the potential."

Source: Investing.com