After a year at the helm, Novo Nordisk’s CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar’s task of closing the gap to pacesetter Eli Lilly doesn’t look to be getting any easier. <\/p>\n
Doustdar joined Novo at the height of spiralling erosion to rivals in the obesity and type 2 diabetes market segments. While the Danish drugmaker has since gained approval for oral Wegovy, a drug that set a record-breaking pace for a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) at launch, other pipeline products have had mixed clinical results. Earlier this week, cardiovascular disease drug ziltivekimab failed a Phase III trial, while CagriSema fell short in a non-inferiority trial comparing it to Lilly’s tirzepatide. <\/p>\n
Coupled with ongoing sales decline, dealmaking presents an obvious avenue in which to boost pipeline offerings. Novo has already said it is actively targeting bolt-on acquisitions, with Doustdar reiterating during the Q2 earnings call that large-scale, transformative deals are still a way off. <\/p>\n
“I’m very proud of our internal R&D and pipeline, but no company has a monopoly on good ideas. I’ve also said we are in every data room to try and see who else has a better idea, who else can give us assets that we can bolt on, and complement what [our internal R&D teams] are doing,” Doustdar said. <\/p>\n
“I’m a person who never starts with a no to one day [being able to conduct transformative M&A], but you have to be in a very different situation than Novo Nordisk is in today,” he added. <\/p>\n
Novo bought metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) specialist Akero Therapeutics for $5.2bn in October 2025<\/a>. However, since missing out to Pfizer<\/a> on the $10bn acquisition of long-lasting GLP-1RA developer Metsera, Novo has been relatively quiet in the dealmaking space. <\/p>\n Q2 met with lacklustre response <\/p>\n Novo reported a mixed Q2, with adjusted sales beating consensus but Wegovy (semaglutide) pill performance falling short. <\/p>\n The company’s quarterly reported sales increased by 3%, with growth negatively impacted by a US drug pricing rebate reversal, though adjusted sales increased by 7%. <\/p>\n Revenue was driven by volume growth in the company’s GLP-1RA. Novo’s Wegovy pill had total weekly US prescriptions exceeding 265,000 as of mid-July. On the earnings call, James Millar, executive VP of US operations, stated that there are more than 5 million prescriptions on a cumulative basis. <\/p>\n Novo is relying on the pill to bridge the gap to Eli Lilly, which has become the dominant drugmaker in the obesity and type 2 diabetes markets. <\/p>\n Despite strong early market launches, analysts were not convinced by the pill’s performance in Q2. <\/p>\n “All-important Wegovy pill was also light-of-consensus and 20% below our estimate,” Citi analysts said in a research note. <\/p>\n Regional expansions for a pill could offer momentum. Oral Wegovy was launched in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June 2026 and then a month later in the UK, with “encouraging early uptake observed”, according to the company. Further launches are slated for upcoming quarters, starting with Germany in September. <\/p>\n The bottom line, however, is that Doustdar still has his hands full in turning around Novo’s fortunes. The company did upgrade its guidance in its Q2 earnings release, but sales and operating income are still expected to decline for the full year. Combined with underwhelming data from CagriSema, analysts remained unexcited about stock prospects. <\/p>\n Citi analysts finished their research note by stating: “Overall nothing to inspire.” <\/p>\n