(BFM Bourse) – The Danish pharmaceutical group is clearly progressing this Thursday on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, after Wegovy, its anti -obsity medication, received a new indication for treating non -alcoholic hepatic steatosis, also called “foie gras disease”. However, the action remains down 45% over a year.
Novo Nordisk resumes a little altitude on the stock market this Monday, August 18. The Danish pharmaceutical group gained 5.8% at the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, around 3:10 p.m., in European markets, however, in net decrease (the Stoxx Europe 600 is recently 0.2%).
The laboratory which, in recent years, has experienced its results thanks to the development of anti-obeyity and anti-diabetes drugs, benefits from the announcement of regulatory approval.
The Scandinavian company announced on Monday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American health authority, approved a new indication for Wegovy, the flagship anti-obesity medication of the company. It is now also authorized for the treatment of non -alcoholic liver steatosis (Mash). This new indication comes into force on Monday.
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A potential of more than $ 1 billion in income
Mash (or NASH) is also called “foie gras disease”. This disease is characterized by an influx of fat to the liver that can cause lesions up to cirrhosis and cancer. Its prevalence is between 4% and 6% for the world’s adult population, according to Inserm. To date, there is no treatment approved for this disease.
The FDA was based on phase III test data (last stage of clinical trials before a potential marketing of a treatment) to give the green light to this indication. These results had shown that after 72 weeks of treatment, 36.8% of patients treated with Wegovy had shown an improvement in liver fibrosis (a kind of inflammation of the liver tissue), against 22.4% for those who had taken the placebo.
The treatment of the Mash does not take on a crucial character in the investment thesis of Novo Nordisk. “The Mash is currently a relatively marginal opportunity for Novo, but could nevertheless prove to be significant in the long term,” said Deutsche Bank at the start of the year. Last year, the German bank estimated that this indication could generate more than $ 1 billion in income for the Danish company.
A hard action
Obtaining this indication therefore gives a very little tone to the Novo Nordisk action which however remains down 45% since the start of the year.
Ex-Numéro 1 of the European Stock Exchange until the beginning of the year, the Danish group is now barely in the top 10, ousted by SAP, ASML, LVMH, Hermès, Astrazeneca, L’Oréal, Roche, Novartis, and Nestlé.
Novo Nordisk has greatly suffered, with several clinical trials below Cagrisema expectations, a new anti-obsity and antidiabetic treatment, and several warnings on its results.
The group’s prospects are currently penalized in the United States by the “masterful preparations” of anti-obesity drugs, kinds of “counterfeits”, which were tolerated by the American health authority until last May but whose marketing persists.
Two weeks ago, the group had resumed a little bit of the beast. The title had returned to more than 10% in two sessions after its great American rival, Eli Lilly, published disappointing clinical results in terms of weight loss for orforglipron, potential treatment against obesity and diabetes in the form of oral tablet, sometimes described as “pill”.
“The ‘key’ of Orforglipron is that it is a drug with a small molecule ‘, which means that it is easy to put on the scale and to produce,” said Bank of America, at the start of the year.
Julien Marion – © 2025 BFM Bourse
