Ozempic and Wegovy boxes made by Novo Nordisk appear in a drugstore.
Holly Adams | Reuters
Shares of the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk Its shares fell more than 24% at one point on Friday after announcing results from a late-stage trial of its experimental weight-loss drug CagriSema that beat expectations.
The maker of the hugely popular obesity drug Wegovy said its new drug candidate helped patients reduce their weight by 22.7%, less than the 25% it previously reported CNBC had expected.
The stock pared some of its losses to trade down approximately 18.8% at 12:30 pm London time. Shares of a competing company that manufactures obesity drugs Eli Lilly The stock jumped 10% in premarket trading but has pulled back from its highs to trade roughly 5% higher.
The trial results deal a blow to expectations that Cagresima could become the next generation of obesity drugs. The two-drug injectable treatment combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wijovi, with the amylin analogue cagrelintide, which is A modern form of weight loss treatment.
The phase 3 trial was based on about 3,400 people who were obese, or overweight with one or more comorbidities, and was conducted over 68 weeks.
However, in comments to CNBC, Novo said CagriSema outperformed Wegovy in weight reduction and that its performance was “on par with best-in-class treatments.”
“We are encouraged by the weight loss profile of CagriSema that was shown to be superior to both semaglutide and cagrilintide in monotherapy in the REDEFINE 1 trial. This was achieved even though only 57% of patients reached the highest dose of CagriSema,” said Martin Holst-Lange, M.D. Chief Development Officer at Novo Nordisk, in a separate press release.
“With the insights gained from the REDEFINE 1 trial, we plan to further explore CagriSema's additional weight loss potential,” he added.
Novo added that the final and complete results will be presented next year, and that it expects the regulatory submission of the drug by the end of 2025.
Results from the phase 2 REDEFINE 2 trial, which is based on adults with type 2 diabetes who are obese or overweight, are also expected during the first half of next year.
The company faced another setback earlier this month when A Head-to-head clinical trial showed that Eli Lilly's Zepbound resulted in superior weight loss compared to Wegovy.
The trial, sponsored by Lilly, showed that Zepbound helped patients shed 20.2%, or nearly 50 pounds, on average after 72 weeks, while Wegovy helped them lose less than 13.7% on average over the same period.
