Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk said surging demand for its first weight loss pill has put it on track to beat trading forecasts. Shares in the Copenhagen-based pharmaceutical firm shot higher in early trading on Wednesday as a result.
Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy pill in January amid a battle in the weight loss drug market with Mounjaro manufacturer Eli Lilly that had seen its sales and profits for its injection treatments falter.
Novo is banking on its pill to claw back ground lost to Lilly in the US and offset intensifying price competition. It plans to launch the Wegovy pill in the first markets outside the United States in the second half of 2026.
The Danish company said the Wegovy pill’s launch was the strongest of any obesity drug in the US, reporting more than two million prescriptions of the pill since its launch, with weekly prescriptions currently exceeding 200,000.
Sales of the pill hit 2.26 billion Danish krone (€300 million) in the quarter to March 31st, surpassing analyst predictions.
The group’s adjusted net sales were nevertheless down 10 per cent for the quarter, with adjusted operating profit down 15 per cent. Novo Nordisk said adjusted sales could dip by as much as 12 per cent for the year, but this marked an improvement from previous guidance of 13 per cent.
The key question is whether Novo will be able to do for the oral market what it could not in the market for injections: capitalise on its first-mover advantage to beat Lilly on the US drugmaker’s home turf.
Lilly’s own obesity pill, Foundayo, entered the US market last month.
Mike Doustdar, president and chief executive of Novo Nordisk, said: “Wegovy is driving a strong start to 2026 for Novo Nordisk, led by the rapid adoption of Wegovy pill – the most efficacious GLP-1 tablet now used by more than one million patients since its January launch.
“We have now been competing with our competitor for about a month ... and so far, so good,” he told journalists on a call. Patients were switching to the pill from competing products, with “limited cannibalisation” of Novo’s other drugs, he said.
Shares jump over 9 per cent on the news before settling back to a 7.6 per cent gain on the session by lunchtime.
“As the global momentum behind peptide-based therapies accelerates, Wegovy pill is defining a novel category as the only oral peptide for the treatment of obesity, setting a new benchmark for what patients and physicians can expect.
“The strong Wegovy performance, combined with continued growth in international operations, has led us to raise our 2026 guidance for both adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit.”
“Even though the pill is only expected to account for 4 to 5 per cent of total revenue in 2026, it is still encouraging,” said Per Hansen, investment economist at Nordnet. “Momentum is what drives stocks, and there is strong momentum here.”
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: “After the madness of the last three years it looks like Novo’s shares are returning to their longer-term trend. The euphoria that saw the shares reach such dizzying highs has entirely evaporated, but today’s numbers still point to a very healthy business and a long-term opportunity in Wegovy.
“It might not have changed the world overnight, but it certainly marked a shift in treatments, a more consequential story in the long run, and one far more beneficial to sensible growth in the share price.” – PA/Reuters/Bloomberg
