As the fight for the weight-loss drug market goes global, Novo Nordisk told CNBC it's gearing upFully promote the launch of Wegovy tablets in markets outside the United States. "Once it goes public, we will go all out. This is a major opportunity." Emil Kongshøj Larsen, executive vice president of Novo Nordisk's international business, said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.
Wegovy Semaglutide Tablets
Novo Nordisk announced last week that it expects to launch the first batch of Wegovy tablets outside the United States later this year, subject to regulatory approval, following its booming performance and lackluster acceptance in the U.S. market.
Currently, both Novo Nordisk and its main competitor Eli Lilly generate more than half of their sales from the U.S. market. However, in recent years, weight loss drugs have reshaped the pharmaceutical industry, and the two companies are becoming more and more active in expanding overseas markets.
Larson did not disclose the specific countries in which the first batch of products will be launched, saying only that the company will deploy it "according to market potential" and consider local patients' needs for obesity treatment, the professional level of doctors, and whether there are suitable telemedicine partners.
He mentioned that telemedicine is an important way to expand patient coverage: Taking Germany as an example, "Progress has been slow in the past, but telemedicine suddenly allows patients to obtain treatment conveniently and satisfactorily."
Novo Nordisk vs. Eli Lilly: A new phase in oral drug competition?
Eli Lilly expects sales growth this year to reach 28% at the midpoint of the guidance range, while Novo Nordisk expects sales to decline significantly.
Novo Nordisk slightly raised its full-year guidance last week, but the company still expects profits and sales to fall by 4%–12% in 2026 due to price cuts in the United States and competition from generic drugs in markets such as India, Canada, Brazil, and China. Novo Nordisk China.
Even so, Novo Nordisk took the lead in launching Wegovy tablets in the United States in January this year, taking the lead in the oral weight loss drug track Novo Nordisk China. The company said last week that cumulative prescription volume has exceeded 2 million; despite the pricing cuts, first-quarter sales still significantly exceeded expectations Novo Nordisk China.
"In an era of highly interconnected social media, digitalization and public opinion, we have achieved the best pre-launch popularity." Larson commented on the US listing performance, adding: "This is also a great benefit to our injection business, and the entire Wegovy brand has been activated."
Analysts at Nordea pointed out in a research report that according to Google Trends data, Wegovy is becoming the most well-known weight loss brand in the United States, consistent with prescription trends.
Meanwhile, Eli Lilly said on April 30 that more than 20,000 patients had started taking its competing oral drug Foundayo since it was launched earlier this month.
According to IQVIA data, which does not cover all prescriptions but reflects demand trends, Fordayo prescription volumes were far lower than those for Wegovy tablets during the same period, according to analysts who closely track weekly U.S. prescription data.
Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC late last month that building Fordayo into a strong brand "will take time." Fodayo's active ingredient is different from Eli Lilly's star injectables Mounjaro and Zepbound; while Novo Nordisk's Wegovy tablets are essentially an oral extension of its injectable versions**.
"Our pace of volume increase will be different because this is a new brand and a new molecule." Ricks said, "This will gradually appear on a quarterly basis rather than a daily basis... Please keep the market calm and watch us execute."
Barclays analyst Emily Field pointed out last week that oral Wegovy and Fordayo target different patient groups: the former has an efficacy close to that of an injection, while the latter is more like an entry-level GLP-1 drug.
Ricks and Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar both believe that the two oral drugs have expanded the weight loss drug market as a whole, rather than just diverting demand for injections.
Global listing promotion
Oral dosage forms are attractive to patients. "We believe this trend will be replicated outside the U.S.," Larson told CNBC.
He believes that Wegovy tablets are significantly more effective, so there is no need to worry even if they are launched later than competing products in some markets.
Studies have shown that Wegovy tablets have more significant weight loss effects than Fordayo and have certain cardiovascular benefits; however, there are currently no direct head-to-head clinical trials comparing the two drugs.
Novo Nordisk expects strong demand for Wegovy tablets in international markets, but the growth curve may not be exactly the same as in the United States.
Larson explained that the U.S. market is not comparable because acceptance depends on the relative price differential between oral and injectable dosage forms.
"We do not disclose our pricing strategy at the moment, but we can say that in the United States, the product is very strong, but the price positioning is different from that of injectable treatments."
He predicted that the sales curve in the international market may be slightly flatter than that in the United States.
Sydbank analyst Soren Hansen told CNBC on Wednesday that Wegovy's listing outside the United States will be more selective and will depend on whether the company's production capacity can match demand. He is optimistic about large European markets such as the United Kingdom and Germany, as well as Novo Nordisk's home country of Denmark as the first launch location.
Larson emphasized to CNBC that Novo Nordisk believes that growth in GLP-1 drugs for obesity will come primarily from self-pay patients, rather than from people covered by state health insurance or commercial insurance.
"Even in a universal health insurance system like Denmark, 99% of patients still pay out of pocket. When we first started doing obesity treatment a few years ago, we never imagined that this would be the case."
The international market has huge potential
Eli Lilly CEO Ricks told CNBC in late April that the global market provides the company with huge room for growth.
"There are 1 billion people around the world who could potentially benefit from these types of drugs... We currently cover about 20 million people."
Eli Lilly's first-quarter revenue outside the United States surged 81% year-on-year to $7.7 billion, with sales increasing 95%; revenue in the United States increased 43% to $12.1 billion. "It turns out that people all over the world want to lose weight," Ricks said.
The Trump administration’s so-called “most favored nation” drug pricing policy (U.S. drug prices are linked to several reference countries) has made overseas listings for many pharmaceutical companies more complicated.
Novo Nordisk's Larsen said that drug pricing policies in European countries will not affect the pace of self-funded launches.
“European governments must recognize that it is critical to pay for high-quality innovation that can transform public health. Otherwise R&D investment and clinical trials will continue to be diverted to the United States or China – as we are now seeing.”