by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Maggie Fick
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk overtook Tesla in market capitalization on Thursday after the maker of Wegovy, a popular weight loss drug, announced initial clinical trial results for its highly anticipated experimental treatment for obesity, amycretin, showed greater effectiveness.
Around 3:47 p.m. GMT, on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Novo Nordisk shares advanced 8.6%, after posting a record during the session at 932 Danish crowns, compared to an increase of 1.03% for the Stoxx 600.
The phase I trial of the pill version of amycretin showed that the participants’ weight had dropped by 13.1% after 12 weeks, the Danish laboratory said during a meeting to update its strategy with of investors and analysts.
In comparison, Wegovy, the group’s current flagship treatment against obesity, allowed at the same stage a reduction in participants’ weight of around 6% after 12 weeks.
Faced with the unprecedented development of obesity in the world, Wegovy has enabled, among other things, the Danish pharmaceutical group to become the largest European market capitalization, ahead of LVMH.
Novo Nordisk shares have more than tripled since June 2021, when Wegovy launched in the United States. On Thursday, the group’s market valuation reached $566 billion, ahead of Tesla and Visa, according to LSEG data.
Nearly half of Novo’s current valuation is based on a pipeline of experimental new drugs, according to calculations by Berenberg analysts last week.
“Novo has made it clear that the amycretin molecule will likely form the basis of the group’s expanding portfolio,” comments Seamus Fernandez, analyst at Guggenhei.
Wegovy, which showed an overall weight loss of 15% after 68 weeks, belongs to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, originally designed to treat type 2 diabetes. These drugs reduce the urge to eat and allow the stomach to empty more slowly.
Novo and the American group Eli Lilly are currently the leaders in the obesity drug market, which analysts predict will be worth $100 billion by 2030.
(Reporting Maggie Fick, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Louise Breusch Rasmussen and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Claude Chendjou and Diana Mandiá, editing by Kate Entringer)
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