Danish drugmakers jump as Eli Lilly's weight-loss pill data disappoints

By Jesus Calero and Elviira Luoma

(Reuters) -Shares in Novo Nordisk rose as much as 14% on Thursday after trial data from Eli Lilly's experimental weight-loss pill fell short of expectations, boosting investor confidence in the Danish drugmaker's market-leading obesity treatment.

The company later pared some gains and were trading up 9% at 1240GMT.

The market had anticipated Eli Lilly's orforglipron pill to become a strong competitor to Novo's weight-loss drugs, Kepler Cheuvreux analyst David Evans said in an emailed comment.

However, with Thursday's results falling short of those expectations, Evans said investors were likely to rethink the competitive outlook in the GLP-1 obesity drug market, a shift that favours Novo's oral semaglutide.

Eli Lilly shares were down 7.8% premarket at 1152 GMT.

The battle between injectables and oral GLP-1 drugs is shaping obesity treatments, as companies race to deliver the best mix of results and safety for patients.

Novo's shares plunged last week after it slashed its outlook for 2025 sales growth, marking the second forecast cut for the Danish drugmaker this year.

Lilly's weaker pill data helps restore investor confidence in Novo's obesity lead, easing fears of an imminent threat to Wegovy's dominance and pricing power, Nordnet analyst Per Hansen has said.

Novo's domestic peer Zealand Pharma rose around 7% in afternoon trade.

Shares in Germany's Gerresheimer , maker of injector pens for Wegovy and Zepbound, also rose around 3%, as weaker oral pill data points to sustained demand for injectable obesity treatments.

Up to the previous session's close, Novo and Zealand shares had lost more than half their value since the start of the year.

(Reporting by Jesus Calero and Elviira Luoma in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Matt Scuffham)