Ozempic Maker’s Plight Shows Managing Markets Counts Too
When it was riding high, Novo Nordisk could have done M&A to reduce its dependence on obesity treatments. It didn’t.
Injection pens for the weight-loss treatment Wegovy.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergOzempic-maker Novo Nordisk A/S saw its shares take a record plunge last week, sending their peak-to-trough collapse to 70% and returning them to levels last seen in 2022. The Danish drug giant’s purpose may be to improve people’s lives, but investors’ shrinking gains from its opening of the anti-obesity market matter too. Novo’s blind spot has been failing to see its share price as an asset to manage — and exploit.
For years, Novo had a relatively quiet life as one member of an insulin oligopoly alongside US peer Eli Lilly & Co. and France’s Sanofi SA. While it wasn’t a completely smooth ride — 2016 was dire — Novo has never seen operational and strategic challenges on the scale it’s now facing. In developing Ozempic for diabetes and its sibling Wegovy for weight loss, the company suddenly found itself riding a tiger.