The market for anti-obesity treatments continues to grow. Just like the Danish Novo Nordisk, a leading figure in the field, whose market capitalization has just exceeded that of Tesla. Thursday evening, the Scandinavian pharmaceutical laboratory was worth some 556 billion euros, or 40 billion more than Tesla. A record. Its value jumped by 8.33% after the presentation of the preliminary results of its new, and highly anticipated, drug against obesity. The manufacturer of the popular weight loss products Wegovy and Ozempic therefore climbs two rungs in the ranking of the most valuable companies in the world and settles in twelfth place.
This meteoric rise demonstrates investors’ enthusiasm for amycretin, Novo Nordisk’s next pill. The results of the phase I trials revealed Thursday by the manufacturer are striking. Its next appetite suppressant would be oral and not an injection, like Wegovy, designed to treat diabetes but effective as an appetite suppressant. In addition to being more pleasant to take, this future drug would also be more effective. Thanks to this pill, the volunteers would lose 13.1% of their weight in twelve weeks. In comparison, weight loss from Wegovy was only 6%. Performances noted by investors, because they are better than those of its main competitor, the American pharmaceutical laboratory Eli Lilly, whose drug orforglipron caused volunteers to lose 14.7% of their weight after 36 weeks of treatment during intermediate trials.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) published an edifying report: “one in eight people in the world is obese”, or more than a billion people. “Globally, obesity has more than doubled since 1990 among adults, and quadrupled among children and adolescents (aged 5 to 19),” notes the institution, citing a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet. In 2022, 43% of adults were overweight. So many potential customers well identified by Novo Nordisk and its investors.
The market for anti-obesity drugs is booming. According to several analysts, its value is expected to reach $100 billion in 2030. For Fruergaard Jorgensen, the general director of Novo Nordisk, there is no doubt that the deployment of treatments against obesity will rely on injectable drugs, with oral versions arriving a little late. and at high prices, due to the greater quantity of active ingredient contained in the pills. Before adding, he hopes to see Wegovy authorized for sale in China this year, making the Middle Kingdom its second market after the United States and ahead of Europe.