Weight-Loss Wonder Drug Falters? Novo Nordisk Crashes 21% After Slashing Forecast

TradingKey - On July 29, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced a significant downward revision to its full-year 2025 financial outlook and simultaneously appointed Maziar Mike Doustdar as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), triggering a more than 21% intraday decline in its share price.

(Source: TradingKey)

In its statement, Novo Nordisk revised its 2025 sales growth forecast (at constant exchange rates) to 8%-14%, substantially lower than the 13%-21% range projected in early May. Operating profit growth expectations were also sharply narrowed from 16%-24% to 10%-16%.

The downgrade stems primarily from reduced sales projections for its flagship weight-loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic in the U.S. market.

The company explicitly stated that sales growth would "significantly slow in the second half," particularly for Wegovy in the U.S. obesity market. Despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration setting May 2025 as the deadline to halt large-scale dispensing, Novo Nordisk emphasized that "unsafe and illegal bulk dispensing practices continue," directly suppressing Wegovy’s market penetration.

On the same day, Novo Nordisk formally appointed Doustdar as CEO, effective August 7, 2025, succeeding current CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.