Novo Nordisk Shares Drop 7% After 2030 Plan Fails to Ease Rivalry Concerns

Novo Nordisk shares fell 7% to $40.26 on Monday after the Danish drugmaker outlined a 2030 strategy that investors viewed as insufficient to defend its weight-loss franchise. The company aims to launch more than five multi-blockbuster drugs by 2030 and target revenue growth in line with industry peers, a pace slower than historical expectations for the Ozempic and Wegovy maker.

CEO Mike Doustdar acknowledged the looming 2032 U.S. patent expiry for semaglutide, which accounted for over half of sales last year, calling it "the elephant in the room." Novo plans to emerge larger and more diversified after the loss of exclusivity, combining internal pipeline expansion with mergers and acquisitions.

“We created an incredibly attractive market and the elephant in the room is the loss of key patent exclusivity on semaglutide.”

BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan David Seigerman noted Novo's projected 3.53% compound annual growth rate trails the 3.65% peer average, though he added the outlook appears already priced into Wall Street estimates. Eli Lilly shares slipped 0.7% to $1,145.04, while Viking Therapeutics rose 1% to $29.41.

The broader market rose, with the S&P 500 ETF up 0.65%, while the health-care sector ETF dipped 0.4%, isolating Novo's decline as company-specific rather than a sector-wide selloff.