By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Maggie Fick
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk said on Monday it would lower the U.S. price of its injectable Wegovy obesity drug and pledged to go “all in” on its upcoming oral weight-loss pill, as the firm races to claw back lost ground in the lucrative market.
The Danish drugmaker is waiting for a U.S. regulatory decision on the oral version of Wegovy by year-end, with the pill format expected to appeal to patients who prefer to avoid injections of the current Wegovy formulation.
“We have more than enough pills this time, so we’re going to go all in and really make this happen,” CEO Mike Doustdar said at an event hosted by the Danish Shareholders Association.
The company – locked in a race with U.S. rival Eli Lilly – is looking to avoid a repeat of the supply issues that plagued its launch of injectable Wegovy in 2021, which paved the way for Lilly and compounded copycat versions.
NOVO REDUCES US PRICE OF WEGOVY AFTER TRUMP DEAL
In a separate announcement, Novo said it has begun cutting the price of injectable Wegovy to $349 per month for U.S. cash-paying patients, from $499. The price reduction accelerates a previously announced deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, initially intended to start in January.
First-time doses of Wegovy and Ozempic, a diabetes drug that contains the same active ingredient, will also be available for $149 per month to Medicare, Medicaid, and cash-paying patients through the government-backed TrumpRx platform or via commercial partners such as GoodRx, WeightWatchers, and Costco.
The price adjustments come as Novo has struggled to fend off competition from Lilly, which moved faster to offer its drug to cash payers, and from pharmacies and telehealth providers selling cheaper copies of Wegovy.
Doustdar noted that consumers using weight-loss drugs exhibit more “consumer-like behaviour” compared to Novo’s traditional diabetes patient base, underscoring the need for greater adaptability in its commercial approach.
“That requires that we need to very quickly adjust to this,” Doustdar said on Monday before the price cuts were announced.
Newly-elected Novo chairman Lars Rebien Sorensen said on Friday he plans to add over-the-counter expertise to the board.
NOVO GETS AGGRESSIVE AS SALES GROWTH STALLS
“I like the initiative and the new tone,” said Claus Henrik Johansen, CEO of Global Health Invest, a Danish healthcare investment fund that does not own Novo shares currently.
“I have long waited for Novo to push a more aggressive strategy to try and regain momentum in the United States.”
CEO Doustdar said that sales in the fourth quarter were poised to fall by 4% based on “a mathematical calculation of what we have told the market”. Sales grew 18% in the first three months of this year but growth has slowed since then.
“You could say it’s really bad,” he said, while emphasizing the potential for the company’s pricing and output strategies to dramatically expand patient access. “We are only giving medication to a fraction of those who want it, who need it.”
Paul Major, a healthcare-focused portfolio manager at Bellevue Asset Management, which also currently does not hold Novo shares, said Doustdar’s comments underline the risks Novo faces in executing its strategy.
“This is the ‘if you build it, they will come’ argument. Prices fall, and you hope you get a volume offset. We’ll have to see,” he said.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-PedersenWriting by Stine JacobsenEditing by David Goodman and Susan Fenton)
