The medications Ozempic and Wegovy, which suppress appetite and thus lead to weight loss, are behind the company's success.
Novo Nordisk plummeted 20 percent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on Friday.
The decline is due to a published phase 3 study that shows patients who used the company's new preparation Cagrisema achieved a weight loss of 22.7 percent after 68 weeks of treatment.
This was better than other preparations in the comparative study, but worse than the 25 percent that Novo Nordisk has stated the medication has the potential for.
According to Bloomberg, the study was important for Novo Nordisk because its main competitor, the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, has developed a medication that has proven to be even more effective than Wegovy in terms of weight loss. A number of other competitors are also breathing down the company's neck with new weight loss preparations in the pipeline.
The entire market could be worth up to 130 billion dollars by 2030, according to the news agency.
Novo Nordisk is not giving up hope for Cagrisema, however. According to the Danish business newspaper Børsen, the company will conduct a new phase 3 trial, which is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2025.
The stock market crash of 20 percent means that over 1,000 billion Swedish kronor in market value has been wiped out from Novo Nordisk since the closing price on Thursday.
The Copenhagen Stock Exchange's broad index fell by over 12 percent following the news from the pharmaceutical giant.
