Novo Nordisk Tightens Its Grip on Global Diabetes Market With a 33% Market Share

Weight-loss wonder drugs are doing more than trimming waistlines — they’re padding Novo Nordisk’s bottom line. The Danish drugmakerNVO

dropped strong Q1 2025 results, with GLP-1 drug sales up 13% year-over-year, despite facing regulatory headwinds. The performance comes as Novo now commands 33.3% of the global diabetes drug market, bolstered by partnerships with telehealth platforms like Hims & HersHIMS

and a major win securing preferred drug status on CVS Health’sCVS

formulary — a move that sent rival Eli Lilly’sLLY

stock diving last week.

• Wegovy, Novo’s weight loss treatment, slightly underperformed with $2.6B in sales, while its diabetes offering, Ozempic, outperformed, pulling in $4.9B.
• Despite the mixed results, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen emphasized Novo’s dominance, noting it still commands “about 72% of the global obesity and diabetes GLP-1 market share.”

Compounding factors: The pharma giant has faced ongoing challenges from compounding pharmacies, which Novo estimates have captured around one-third of the US obesity drug market with copycat versions. However, with the FDA ending its shortage declaration in February and giving compounders until May 22 to cease production, Novo expects growth to accelerate in the second half of the year. The business trimmed its 2025 sales growth forecast to 13-21% from the previous 16-24%, reflecting continued market pressures, but investors reacted positively, pushing the stock up more than 3% on hopes that competition from compounders is on its way out.