Novo Nordisk signed a global licensing deal with Swedish drug-delivery firm Nanexa to develop long-acting injectable obesity and diabetes treatments. The agreement covers up to five development programs across obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic conditions.
Novo gains exclusive rights to PharmaShell, which applies an ultra-thin inorganic coating on drug particles to control release over time. Novo will lead global development and commercialization. Nanexa sreported full-year revenues of ~$3.89M for 2025.
"This agreement provides a strong foundation for expanding PharmaShell into additional therapeutic areas."
David Westburg, Nanexa
Nanexa struck a similar pact with Moderna last year.
Novo is buying time against a widening Lilly lead
The deal lands days after Novo's Capital Markets Day in London, where the company set out 2030 ambitions that disappointed the market. Novo is targeting more than five drugs with multi-blockbuster potential by 2030 and more than 60M patients worldwide.
Investors pushed the stock down on Monday, unconvinced by growth targets that merely matched industry averages.
Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, holds patent protection until 2032. Those two drugs account for roughly two-thirds of Novo's sales and booked combined sales of $31B in 2025.
Eli Lilly held about a 61% share of the US GLP-1 market in the second quarter against Novo's roughly 39%.
Lilly says one-third of new GLP-1 pill patients are taking its oral drug Foundayo. It also says 700K seniors started GLP-1s in Medicare after coverage began in July, with 70% of them on Lilly's drugs.
Novo counters that volume matters more than share. It plans capacity to serve 15M people on oral obesity treatments by 2030, and says its Wegovy pill has already reached 7M US prescriptions.
