Novo shares plunge after news on rival weight-loss drug

On Tuesday, Danish Novo Nordisk’s stock price fell by 6.9% following good news over Easter for its American competitor, Eli Lilly. Both companies are competing in the weight loss drug market. Eli Lilly announced that its new weight loss pill, orforglipron, successfully passed a phase 3 study, making it the first of its kind to do so. The pill performs similarly to Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro in terms of weight loss. Following the study, Novo’s US stock dropped by 4.5% pre-market on Thursday. Although Novo Nordisk has developed a weight loss pill, it isn’t approved for weight loss. Over the past year, Novo’s shares have lost 50% of their value, dropping from a peak of 1005.60 in June last year to approximately 390 on Tuesday morning.