Drastic drop in Novo Nordisk shares! Weak results of new drug shocked

Shares in Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S have seen their biggest drop since December. The reason is the poor results of a clinical trial of their new injection CagriSema, which was supposed to be the next step in the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Although patients with diabetes lost an average of 15.7% of their weight, investors' expectations were higher.

Novo Nordisk $NVO reported Monday that patients who followed CagriSema treatment lost an average of 15.7% of their body weight over 68 weeks. By comparison, patients taking a placebo lost only 3.1% of their weight. However, taking all study participants into account, the weight loss was only 13.7%, which is less than investors had hoped for.

Analysts had expected figures closer to 20%, said David Evans of Kepler Cheuvreux. This is the second disappointment linked to the drug - a study last December targeting patients with obesity but no diabetes also failed to deliver the expected results. This raises doubts about…