Novo Nordisk Faces Price Cuts in the Intensely Competitive Anti-Obesity Drug Market, Corporate Challenges Persist

　　Novo Nordisk faced a turbulent 2025, with company shares continuing to decline, intensifying market competition, and internal disagreements leading to a collective resignation of board members. Signs at the start of this year indicate that the company's predicament remains unresolved.

　　Last Wednesday, this pioneer in the weight-loss drug sector released dismal sales and profit forecasts, causing its stock price to plummet by nearly 20%. The following day, U.S. telemedicine group Hims&Hers announced the launch of a generic version of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy at a price far lower than the original, dealing another heavy blow to Novo Nordisk.

　　Although on Saturday, Hims & Hers stated it would stop selling the discounted generic drug after “constructive communication” with industry stakeholders, giving Novo Nordisk a temporary reprieve, the incident still underscored the many challenges the company currently faces.

　　The launch of this generic drug angered the Danish pharmaceutical giant, with Novo Nordisk even threatening legal action. Prior to this, Novo Nordisk announced last Wednesday that it expects its net sales to drop by as much as 13% this year—a pessimistic outlook that even exceeded the predictions of the most bearish analysts.

　　Mike Doustdar, who became CEO of Novo Nordisk last August, has been racking his brains to find new growth areas for the company; both Ozempic and Wegovy are global blockbuster drugs. In light of the company's share price tumbling more than 50% over the past year, he has issued a warning that the stock could fall even further.

　　Markus Manns, Senior Portfolio Manager and healthcare expert at German Union Investment Group, said: “I agree the company will continue to face short-term pain.” He bluntly stated that Novo Nordisk’s performance guidance was “shocking.”

　　He added: “With such performance guidance, it’s really hard to see where the end of the predicament lies.”

　　In addition to the pressure from an increasingly competitive weight-loss drug market, Novo Nordisk is also facing what Doustdar called “unbearable” price cuts in the U.S., and some of its core market patents are about to expire.

　　This former European market cap leader last year dismissed its previous CEO due to disagreements with controlling shareholder Novo Nordisk Foundation over how to curb slowing profit growth and falling share prices, leading to a collective resignation of board members. Now, Novo Nordisk faces the risk of falling further behind U.S. competitor Eli Lilly. On Wednesday, Eli Lilly announced its 2026 sales would rise sharply from $65 billion last year to at least $80 billion, sending its stock price soaring.

　　Novo Nordisk attributed its gloomy guidance to what Doustdar described as “unprecedented pricing pressure” in the U.S., its largest market. Drug price-cutting policies launched by U.S. President Donald Trump will directly limit Novo Nordisk’s product pricing.

　　According to the Most Favored Nation agreement, pharmaceutical companies must price drugs in the U.S. at no higher than the lowest price charged in other developed countries.

　　This means Novo Nordisk's semaglutide injections and semaglutide weight-loss shots, if purchased through the new direct-to-consumer online platform TrumpRx launched under Trump, will see the monthly price drop from at least $1,000 to $350.

　　The company will also lower drug prices for patients covered by the two major government insurance programs in the U.S.: Medicare and Medicaid.

　　Novo Nordisk CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen said the new U.S. drug pricing model will impact sales in two ways: first, income from self-paying consumers, and second, revenue from insurance reimbursements. However, he added, the price cuts could also boost sales volumes.

　　He stated: “As a company, we urgently need to prove that price cuts in the self-pay market can enable more patients to start using our products.”

　　The slowdown in U.S. market growth is just the tip of the iceberg for Novo Nordisk's troubles.

　　Due to patents for semaglutide weight-loss shots and diabetes drugs expiring soon in markets such as Canada, Brazil, and India, Novo Nordisk expects its international sales growth to fall from about 10% in 2025 to the mid-single digits this year. Once patents expire, generic drug makers will be able to sell similar drugs at lower prices.

　　Novo Nordisk originally hoped that the oral version of its semaglutide weight-loss drug, launched in the U.S. in January, would boost performance. The lowest dose of this oral drug retails at $149, and about 170,000 consumers have purchased it so far.

　　However, Hims & Hers attempted to launch a competing product with a monthly retail price of just $49, challenging Novo Nordisk's optimism. Hims & Hers stated it remains “committed to supporting the millions of Americans who rely on us for safe, affordable, and personalized healthcare.”

　　Although this competing product was ultimately removed from the market, it does not mean Novo Nordisk’s troubles are over.

　　Jefferies investment bank analysts warned last month that Novo Nordisk still faces numerous challenges, including continued entry of competing products and the risk that consumers may switch from the more expensive injectable semaglutide to the oral version.

　　Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug orforglipron is currently awaiting regulatory approval, although its efficacy and tolerability in clinical trials have not matched Novo Nordisk’s oral drug.

　　Pfizer, Roche, and other major pharmaceutical companies are also preparing to launch weight-loss drugs, challenging Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.

　　For a long time, investors have criticized Novo Nordisk's R&D pipeline as weak compared to peers and are dissatisfied with the company's overreliance on weight-loss and diabetes drugs, which will contribute over 90% of Novo Nordisk's sales in 2025.

　　Some analysts said Novo Nordisk lost out to Pfizer in last year’s bid to acquire Metsera, a biotech company focused on weight loss, and now urgently needs to acquire new assets to strengthen its pipeline. The analyst also pointed out that business expansion capability is a significant weakness for Novo Nordisk.

　　Knudsen said Novo Nordisk intends to add a once-monthly GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) drug to its portfolio; currently, most such drugs are taken once daily or once weekly.

　　Novo Nordisk also announced two more top management changes: its head of U.S. operations and its head of product and portfolio strategy will both depart.

　　The company has hired Jamey Millar from Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, to take over as head of its U.S. business division.

　　Optum is one of the world’s largest pharmacy benefit management organizations—an important intermediary in the pharmaceutical industry. Novo Nordisk hopes Millar’s industry experience and more than three decades at GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and Procter & Gamble will help the company’s development.

　　However, analysts at UBS said frequent management changes “do not inspire market confidence in the company’s direction.”

Editor: He Yun