Novo Nordisk shares dropped as much as 7% on Monday after the company unveiled a 2030 growth plan for its obesity drug business. CEO Mike Doustdar told investors the coming loss of patent exclusivity on semaglutide is the biggest issue on investors' minds.
Novo Nordisk shares fell as much as 7% on Monday after the Danish drugmaker laid out new growth ambitions for the booming obesity drug market. The stock was last seen down 5% in Copenhagen trading.
The company is trying to convince investors it can still compete in a field it helped create but that has since grown increasingly crowded. Novo Nordisk said it aims to launch more than five drugs with "multi-blockbuster" potential by 2030 and to generate more than 150 billion Danish kroner ($23 billion) in pipeline sales by 2035. It also expects revenue growth between 2026 and 2030 to be in line with industry peers.
CEO Mike Doustdar presented the plan at the company's Capital Markets Day in London. But investors reacted to the announcement by selling the stock rather than rewarding the new targets.
Doustdar addressed semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, which will lose key patent exclusivity starting in the early next decade. The patent expires in 2032 in the U.S., a market that accounts for more than half of the drug's sales.
According to Doustdar, this loss of exclusivity "is what's on most people's mind, and rightfully so." He said the company would not belittle the loss of exclusivity or the price pressure that comes with it, and that Novo Nordisk plans to diversify.
Source: CNBC
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