Novo Nordisk is still crushing it — but there’s an uphill battle ahead
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk started the year on a runner’s high but without the running. That’s the power of its obesity drug, Wegovy, which saw its sales more than double — while sales of its diabetes drug Ozempic shot up by 42%. These successes have propelled Novo Nordisk’s shares to balloon by 260% since Wegovy’s 2021 launch — pushing its market capitalization over $570B, surpassing Denmark’s entire economy.
- Thanks to strong sales and optimistic projections, Novo has become Europe’s most valuable company.
- But getting there will be hard, as demand for the drug still far outstrips supply — despite a 5x increase in starter doses in the US since December.
Scaling up: Less than a decade ago, Novo Nordisk’s shares were tanking — but since Ozempic changed everything in 2018, the company has had to massively expand its operations — and ambitions. It projects a billion potential patients and targeting a market worth ~$100B by 2032 — but with competition intensifying, especially from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Novo Nordisk has had to cut Wegovy prices, causing revenue to miss expectations. And as political pressure mounts, capitalizing on all this demand may come with growing pains.
