Novo Nordisk’s Oral Wegovy Wins EU Approval – So Why Isn’t the Market Celebrating?
Published on 07/18/2026 at 20:13 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Novo Nordisk finally has what it has been fighting for: European regulators have cleared the oral version of Wegovy, the first daily GLP-1 pill for obesity, across all 27 EU member states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The green light, issued on 15 July, should have been a blockbuster moment for a company that has seen its stock fall more than 22% over the past twelve months. Yet when the market closed on Friday, the shares stood at €43.95, down 2.42% on the day. The rally that came and went on Wednesday tells a familiar story: good news on the product front, but the structural headwinds are not going away.
The disconnect is rooted in deep?seated pricing and policy pressures. Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy – a 25?mg semaglutide tablet that delivered an average 17% weight loss in the OASIS trial, with roughly one in three patients losing at least 20% – is a genuine scientific achievement. The company also won approval for a 7.2?mg weekly injector pen, widening the range of choices for patients who dislike needles. But the market continues to fret about US price concessions, weaker prescription trends for injectable GLP?1 drugs, cuts to Medicaid coverage for obesity treatments, and the US government’s threatened “most?favored?nation” clause. With a price?to?earnings ratio of only about 11.9 – well below the historical median of 23.7 – the stock is priced for caution, not celebration.
Management is trying to bridge that gap with hard cash. Since February, Novo Nordisk has repurchased roughly 24 million B?shares as part of a DKr 15bn buyback programme that is running at full speed. The signal could hardly be clearer: the board thinks the equity is undervalued. At the same time, the company is throwing billions at production capacity to ensure the new products can actually reach patients. In the Czech town of Bohumil, a $360m investment has started turning out carrier proteins for next?generation obesity and diabetes drugs. In China, $29m is being poured into updating pen?assembly lines in Tianjin. In Ireland, a €432m expansion in Athlone is being fashioned into the group’s non?US hub for oral GLP?1 production. Seven manufacturing sites are now operating globally, a deliberate effort to avoid the supply bottlenecks that plagued earlier launches.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Novo Nordisk?
The patient?friendly tablet form is central to that strategy. CEO Mike Doustdar has pointed to the plain fact that many people simply will not use an injector, and the pill is designed to capture exactly that untapped demand. Yet even as the EU approval opens a market of 450 million consumers, the competitive landscape is heating up. Eli Lilly has already filed for approval of its oral candidate orforglipron in China and is pushing hard in the US. Novo Nordisk’s own management has labelled 2026 a “transition year,” with a meaningful growth upturn not expected until 2027. The patent protection for semaglutide is also eroding step by step, adding another layer of uncertainty for a stock that is still trading nearly 28% below its peak of July 2025.
For now, the monthly chart offers some comfort: the shares have gained 15.69% over the past four weeks, a solid recovery from the March low. But the daily graph shows how fragile the sentiment remains. The oral Wegovy approval was a necessary win, but it has not silenced the debate about whether Novo Nordisk can navigate a period of thinning margins, tougher competition, and a valuation that already reflects a lot of bad news. The next concrete test will come when the company reports second?quarter earnings, and investors will be watching for evidence that the pill is not just approved – but that it can actually shift the needle where it counts.
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Novo Nordisk Stock: New Analysis - 18 July
Fresh Novo Nordisk information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
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