Novo Nordisk A/S is punished today after posting an unsatisfactory update about CagriSema.
Pharmaceutical behemoth says its weight loss treatment has helped patients reduce their weight by 22,7% during a late stage trial, which is lower than the 25% they had initially expected.
The stock of Novo Nordisk was nearly 25 percent lower at one time on Friday. Eli Lilly & Co., its anti-obesity competitor, grew as high as 8.0% before the market opened.
Amgen, Zealand Pharma and, more recently, Merck & Co Inc. are also in a position to compete against Novo Nordisk on the market for weight loss.
CagriSema News: Why is it Important for Novo Nordisk Stock?
Novo Nordisk’s stock price has risen significantly since the announcement, as management had expected CagriSema as the new treatment option for obesity.
CagriSema, a combination of Cagrilintide (a glucocorticoid) and Semaglutide (a sulfonamide), is an injectable two-drug product.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy by the same company is also a new approach to weight loss.
According to a press release published by the European drugmaker on Friday, 3,400 overweight or obese people participated in the 68-week Phase Three trial of CagriSema.
Novo Nordisk will also be releasing the results of the phase 3 trial testing CagriSema on obese/overweight adult patients with type 2 diabetics in the next year.
The stock of Novo Nordisk is down by more than 45% from its peak in late June.
CagriSema is superior to Wegovy for weight loss
The new treatment for weight loss was “among the best in class treatments.”
CagriSema has shown better results than Wegovy at the end of the trial in helping patients lose weight.
CagriSema showed superiority in the REDEFINE trial over Semaglutide or Cagrilintide when used as monotherapy. Martin Holse Lanage, executive vice-president of Novo Nordisk stated in a recent press release that only 57% patients received the maximum dose.
Even so, Novo Nordisk’s stock price plunged this morning due to investors’ focus on CagriSema failing to achieve the original expectations of the company in phase three.
CagriSema is not going anywhere for Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk plans to continue “exploring the additional weight loss potential of CagriSema”, and hopes to obtain regulatory approval by 2025.
The shares of Novo Nordisk are still falling at the time of writing, perhaps because this wasn’t Novo Nordisk’s first loss in the month.
In December of last year, Lilly’s sponsored study that included a head-to-head test between Zepbound from Lilly and Novo Nordisk Wegovy proved the superiority of Zepbound as an antiobesity drug.
In this trial, Zepbound allowed patients to reduce their weight by over 20%. This was compared with a much lower weight reduction of 13.7% observed in Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk does not pay dividends at the moment to make them more appealing for income investors.
This article Novo Nordisk shares just dropped 25%: Here’s What Happened appeared first on the ICD
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