Novo Nordisk has been taking a bit of a beating lately. The Danish company is a maker of the fabulously successful weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Last summer, the company’s stock was flying high in the $140/share range. It has plummeted since to $75/share with one bit of bad news after another.

The biggest drop — a 20% decline in the company’s total value — happened on December 20, 2024, when investors filed a class action lawsuit against Novo Nordisk for misleading statements about the prospects for the new GLP-1 drug, CargiSema.

As we previously reported here at AddictionNews, results of a randomized, controlled trial of CargiSema showed a 15% loss in body weight. Novo Nordisk was expecting something closer to 25%. Markets reacted very negatively to the news.

Novo Nordisk stock dropped 7% in value from March 18 to March 21 after Roche announced a collaboration with Danish company, Zealand Pharma, to develop a competing weight loss drug. The drug is called petrelintide, a long-acting amylin analog, currently in Phase IIb trials against obesity for people who do not have Type 2 diabetes.

The website for Zealand Pharma explains how petrelintide works:

Amylin is produced in the pancreatic beta cells and co-secreted with insulin in response to ingested nutrients. Amylin analogs have been shown to increase satiety by a direct effect on the amylin receptor and by restoring sensitivity to the hormone leptin. This is in contrast to GLP-1 receptor agonists that primarily lower body weight by reducing appetite.

Perhaps being shy of predicting the sort of weight loss numbers that led to the investor suit against Novo Nordisk, Zealand’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Kendall, told BioSpace that clinical data was “strong and compelling” for petrelintide. The company is confident the drug can:

[…] deliver a reduction in body weight that is comparable to GLP-1 receptor agonists but with improved tolerability for a better patient experience…

A group of researchers from Denmark published the results of a study of petrelintide in the journal, Diabetes, in June, 2024. The trial involved 56 healthy, lean and overweight men. Participants received either petrelintide or a placebo on a randomized basis. Seven dosage levels were tested, from 0.04 to 2.4 mg. As to tolerability, results showed that:

All adverse events were mild to moderate, with no serious or severe adverse events reported, and no treatment discontinuations.

The main adverse events were loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting. Specifically, 67% of those given single doses of 2.4 mg vomited. However, at 1.4 mg, there was one incident of vomiting and 67% reported nausea. At 1.2 mg, only 29% reported nausea and there was no vomiting. Weight loss averaged 5.1% of body weight after six weeks of dosing.

One of the unique selling points for petrelintide is that it appears to not burn lean muscle mass the way the GLP-1 drugs do. Another study in the journal, Diabetes, by — you guessed it — researchers from Denmark, compared the results of petrelintide versus the GLP-1 receptor agonist, liraglutide, in obese rats. The results:

Treatment with petrelintide resulted in significant reduction of fat mass in comparison to vehicle, which liraglutide did not… Furthermore, treatment with petrelintide resulted in significant preservation of relative lean mass in comparison to vehicle, which liraglutide did not.

Petrelintide offers the potential for “high-quality weight loss through the preservation of lean muscle,” according to Zealand Pharma. And it’s causing neighbor Novo Nordisk’s stock price to experience significant weight loss, hopefully with preservation of lean muscle.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published March 27, 2025.

Sources:

“NVO Stock Slips 4% as Roche Inks Obesity Drug Deal With Zealand,” Zacks Equity Research, March 13, 2025.

“Novo Nordisk (NVO) Faces Securities Class Action After Weight Loss Therapy Trial Data Disappoints, Analyst Questions Trial’s Design,” Morningstar, March 20, 2025.

“Zealand Pharma announces first participant enrolled in Phase 2b ZUPREME-1 trial of petrelintide in people with overweight or obesity,” BioSpace, December 10, 2024.

“1668-P: Novel Once-Weekly Amylin Analog Petrelintide (ZP8396) Is Well Tolerated with Improved GI Tolerability after Multiple Dosing,” Diabetes, June 2024.

“1662-P: Petrelintide (ZP8396) Significantly Reduces Fat Mass while Preserving Lean Mass in DIO Rats,” Diabetes, June 2024.

Image courtesy Zealand Pharma.