Novo Nordisk shares fall 20% after CagriSema failure

Novo Nordisk has seen its shares plummet after its experimental obesity drug CagriSema performed worse than the company expected. Patients taking the drug lost an average of 22.7% of their weight, which was below the expected 25%. This result led to a drastic drop in the market value of the company, which lost approximately $125 billion.

CagriSema is a combination of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Weg's drug, and cagrilintide, which mimics the hormone amylin in the pancreas. The drug was intended to be a stronger competitor to other obesity drugs such as Eli Lilly's Zepbound. While CagriSema achieved significant weight loss, it fell short of the company's stated goal. This result led to a 20% drop in Novo Nordisk's $NVOstock , resulting in a loss of $125 billion in market value for the company. This development raised concerns about the company's ability to develop a successful successor to Wegova, its most successful weight loss drug to date.