Novo Nordisk: The weight loss drug craze has far from peaked

Novo Nordisk pointed out a simple fact: the weight-loss drug boom is far from peaking.

The company’s CEO, Mike Doustdar, said that demand far exceeds the scale the industry can currently supply. In the U.S. alone, tens of millions of people are affected by obesity, but only a small fraction of them are receiving treatment. Even with blockbuster drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic, and intensifying competition from Eli Lilly, the market still appears largely untapped.

That’s starting to change Novo Nordisk’s way of thinking about growth. The company is preparing to significantly lower prices in the U.S.; it expects that starting next year, Wegovy will be cut by about 50% and Ozempic by about 33%. The logic is simple: lower prices bring in more patients. At the same time, competition is also heating up. Eli Lilly is pushing ahead with its own in-house developed weight-loss pills, and after semaglutide lost exclusivity, generic drugs have begun to show up in markets such as India and China.

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Responsible editor: Zhang Jun SF065