Citi flags GLP-1 prescription slowdown at Novo Nordisk, reiterates ‘sell’ Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock
Citi has reiterated its ‘sell’ rating on Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), the Danish pharmaceutical group, with a price target of 265 Danish krone against a last close of 292.4 Danish krone.
Analyst Emmanuel Papadakis published Citi’s weekly IQVIA tracker of Novo’s GLP-1 assets, using retail prescription data up to 21 August 2026.
The tracker showed new-to-brand prescription trends declining across all the company’s key GLP-1 obesity drugs this week, with the exception of oral Wegovy.
Rybelsus, Novo’s oral GLP-1 treatment for diabetes, saw total prescriptions fall significantly across all prescriber groups, according to Citi.
On a four-week rolling basis, Citi calculated that total and new prescription growth for Ozempic stood at minus 9% and minus 3%, respectively.
Subcutaneous Wegovy fared better over the same period, with rolling total and new prescription growth of 12% and 16%.
Citi said extrapolating current trends through the rest of the financial year implies double-digit upside for both Ozempic and subcutaneous Wegovy against consensus forecasts.
Rybelsus is tracking towards single-digit upside on the same basis, the broker said, while oral Wegovy remains broadly in line with expectations.
The weekly tracker combines NRx and TRx data released on Fridays with NBRx figures released the following Monday afternoon, giving Citi a near real-time read on US retail demand for Novo’s flagship products.
Citi’s sell rating implies further downside of around 9% from Wednesday’s close, with the weakening new-patient trends across most of Novo’s obesity portfolio cited as a key pressure point on the stock.