Novo Nordisk has lost most of its post-Wegovy market cap gains
A weak sales outlook and a copycat scare capped a brutal week for Europe’s one-time most valuable company.
Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk has now erased nearly all of the market cap gains it racked up after winning FDA approval for its weight-loss drug Wegovy in 2021.
The company’s shares slid ~20% last week amid two major setbacks. On Tuesday, Novo warned that 2026 sales could fall by as much as 13%, citing “unprecedented pricing pressure” in the US, intensifying competition, and a looming patent expiry for semaglutide, the active ingredient in its GLP-1 drugs.
Then, telehealth company Hims & Hers launched a copycat version of Novo’s newly approved Wegovy pill on Thursday at an initial price of just $49 a month... though later that day, the FDA warned of a crackdown on “illegal copycat drugs.” Hims pulled the pill on Saturday. Novo’s shares were higher this morning as the company announced that it’s suing Hims.
Even so, the hits wiped out Novo’s January rebound, fueled by excitement around its oral pill launch. Zoom out further and the picture is even starker: almost all of Novo’s gains since Wegovy burst onto the scene are now gone.
Since its FDA approval in June 2021, Wegovy, alongside its diabetes-treating counterpart Ozempic, helped propel Novo to become Europe’s most valuable company, with its market cap peaking at ~$650 billion in mid-2024.
But that dominance didn’t last. Shortages of semaglutide left room for cheaper compounded alternatives from companies like Hims. Meanwhile, competitor Eli Lilly surged ahead after launching its weight-loss drug Zepbound in late 2023 — momentum that briefly pushed Lilly’s valuation above $1 trillion last November. By contrast with Novo, Lilly posted stronger-than-expected 2026 guidance last week, as its GLP-1s have been more effective than Novo's offerings, while also being cost-competitive.
After the weight-loss saga’s dramatic turn this weekend, however, Novo might still have some breathing room.
