Obesity stocks slump on Novo's underwhelming 2026 sales forecast

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Shares of obesity drugmakers and developers slid on Tuesday after Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO forecast a sharper-than-expected sales decline for 2026, underscoring intensifying competition in the blockbuster weight-loss market.

Eli Lilly LLY.N was down about 4%, Structure Therapeutics GPCR.O fell 6.2%, while Altimmune ALT.O dropped 4.2%. Viking Therapeutics VKTX.O declined more than 3% and Amgen AMGN.O slipped nearly 1% in afternoon trading.

The Danish drugmaker said it expects sales to drop between 5% and 13% this year, compared with analysts' average expectation of a 2% decline. Its U.S.-listed shares fell 13.8% to $50.83.

Wegovy-maker Novo also reported a 14% fall in fourth-quarter operating profit to 31.7 billion Danish crowns, slightly above the estimate of 31.2 billion crowns.

The selloff comes as Wall Street is reassessing long-held expectations that the obesity drug market could hit $150 billion early next decade, as U.S. prices for GLP-1 treatments from Novo and Lilly fall sharply and competition intensifies in the cash-pay consumer market.

Analysts have pushed out peak sales timelines and trimmed forecasts, with some now seeing the market closer to $80 billion to $105 billion by 2030.

($1 = 6.3201 Danish crowns)