Novo Nordisk warned of a drop in revenue in 2026. Quotes collapsed by 15%

Danish maker of best-selling weight-loss drugs Novo Nordisk has warned that its revenue will fall much more sharply this year than analysts had expected. The company estimates that hits Wegovy and Ozempic face stiff competition and pricing pressure in the US. The forecast triggered a 15% collapse in Novo's securities.

Novo Nordisk's American depositary receipts plunged 15% to $50.2 in the U.S. after the company released a preliminary report for last year, where it predicted a decline in revenue in the current year. This is the largest intraday decline in the securities since July 29, Bloomberg calculated .

Novo warned that sales will fall in 2026 amid increased competition for key drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as pricing pressure from the US administration. Revenues at the Danish drugmaker could fall 5-13% at constant exchange rates, the company said. Analysts expected it to give a cautious forecast and allow for a decline in sales, but the reported magnitude was worse than expected, emphasizes Bloomberg. The consensus was for a 1.4% decline in revenue, the agency notes.

"I don't think even the most pessimistic analyst expected a 5-13% drop," said Lars Hütting, director of trading at ArthaScope. - This demonstrates how serious the company's difficulties are."

Novo estimates that although the global market for GLP-1 class weight loss drugs will generally expand due to growth in the number of patients and consumption volumes, the company will face a decline in the actual selling prices of its products. U.S. President Donald Trump's policy of pushing for the implementation of most favored nation pricing, which forces manufacturers to sell drugs through a special website much cheaper in exchange for duty waivers and other benefits, will also have an impact. The loss of patent protection for semaglutide in a number of countries will further hit revenue, the company added.

To support the share price, the pharma giant announced the launch of a new buyback program worth up to DKK 15 billion (roughly $2.4 billion).

The last time Novo Nordisk's annual revenue declined in 2017, when a price war broke out in the U.S. insulin market. Now the Danish company is facing competition in several areas at once, writes Bloomberg. In particular, Eli Lilly's Zepbound injection has taken a leading position in the US, and generics of Ozempic may appear on international markets as early as 2026, the agency explains.

Novo is trying to regain investor confidence after the worst year in its history, with the stock posting a record drop in 2025. That said, investors have been optimistic about the launch of Wegovy's tablet form, which is selling better in the first few weeks than Lilly's Zepbound at launch, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. This was stated by analyst Michael Shah, citing data from Symphony Health.

Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Dustdar urged investors for patience last week, explaining that his goal is to secure sales growth to offset the U.S. price cuts he negotiated with the Trump administration back last year. "Short-term we have some serious headwinds ahead of us, but in the medium to long-term we see a lot of tailwinds," Dustdar said at an internal company meeting, Bloomberg reported.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor