Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly presented data extolling the benefits of their relative weight loss therapies in obesity-linked indications, while analysts at BMO Capital Markets were “encouraged” by the strategy communicated by Novo management.
In addition to presenting more than 40 abstracts at the American Diabetes Association conference, Novo Nordisk’s management team found time to meet with analysts over dinner—an event where they apparently succeeded in impressing BMO Capital Markets.
Novo Nordisk CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar and CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen entertained analysts at ADA to show that the company is emerging from a battering few years, while the clinical team layered on the proof in their ADA presentations.
At the soiree, Doustdar and Knudsen acknowledged the past year’s challenges, “while providing confidence that change is afoot,” the analysts wrote in a Sunday note to investors.
With Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drugs running neck and neck in the U.S market, the companies revealed additional benefits this weekend across a range of obesity-related conditions—seeking any incremental edge.
Novo presented posthoc analyses of several studies at ADA showing the benefits of semaglutide—marketed as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes—in asthma-related adverse outcomes and systolic blood pressure in patients with uncontrolled hypertension and overweight or obesity.
In the SELECT cardiovascular outcomes trial, 1,190 patients with self-reported asthma were followed for adverse events (AE) and severe adverse events (SAE). Overall, patients with cardiovascular disease, asthma and obesity or overweight who were treated with semaglutide had an average of 27 AEs/SAEs compared to 46 events for placebo controls, according to Novo’s Saturday press release.
“There are a lot of GLP-1 receptors in the lungs,” Jason Brett, principal medical head at Novo, told BioSpace prior to catching a plane out of New Orleans on Monday. “It’s probably not spoken about as much, but [asthma] is an important complication of obesity.” In fact, there are forms of the respiratory condition associated with obesity that are “particularly worse and more difficult to control,” Brett said.
In a separate posthoc analysis of 597 adults with overweight or obesity and uncontrolled hypertension in the STEP 1,3, 5-9 and OASIS 4 trials, semaglutide plus diet and exercise was associated with “meaningful improvements” in systolic blood pressure compared to placebo, Novo reported.
Liver health was also improved in patients taking semaglutide. In a posthoc analysis of the STEP 1 trial, people with overweight or obesity achieved a reduction in fatty liver index scores from baseline to week 68, according to Novo’s press release.
These results could be particularly important for Novo, as Eli Lilly cemented the pole position in the weight loss space with new data at ADA showing its investigative triple-G therapy retatrutide cut body weight by more than 30% in certain patients with obesity.
A differentiated pipeline
Brett emphasized “the breadth of assets that we’re developing across the cardiometabolic disease profile” as one of Novo’s biggest differentiators.
He also noted the company’s extensive experience in the space. “We have over 49 million cumulative patient years of experience between clinical trials and real-world experience with the molecule,” Brett said of semaglutide, “and not just in reducing body weight and blood glucose but also improving the health of patients and the complications of obesity and diabetes.”
Wegovy won approval in March 2024 as the first therapy to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including heart attack and stroke, and for long term weight management.
Across its pipeline, Novo has assets targeting metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), kidney disease and heart disease.
Near-term, the company is anticipating data from studies of ziltivekimab, a once-monthly monoclonal antibody intended to inhibit IL-6 activity. In addition to diabetes and obesity, Novo is investigating the asset in patients with residual systemic inflammation in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) with chronic kidney disease (CKD), heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and heart attack. The Phase 3 ZEUS trial, studying ziltivekimab in ASCVD with CKS is expected to read out in the second half of this year, Brett said.
Of course, Novo is not alone in its expansive R&D focus around obesity-related diseases. Lilly also presented new data this weekend extolling the benefits of retatrutide and newly approved weight loss pill Foundayo across a variety of conditions, including sleep apnea, menopause and osteoarthritis knee pain.
Lilly’s Zepbound snagged the first ever FDA approval in sleep apnea in December 2024.
Lilly is also studying its amylin analog eloralintide in obstructive sleep apnea and osteoarthritis pain and lepodisiran, an siRNA therapy, in ASCVD. Meanwhile, Foundayo is in Phase 3 trials for peripheral arterial disease, hypertension and sleep apnea.
Novo’s path forward
As for Novo’s current state of affairs, BMO expressed optimism about the launch of the Wegovy pill.
“We still note that Novo has not fully solved its commercial challenges, with Wegovy and Ozempic remaining pressured by Lilly’s tirzepatide, but we were encouraged to hear how management continues to expect to prioritize the Wegovy pill launch, potentially providing more upside to the company’s current estimates,” they continued.
As for that debut, BMO noted that the “Wegovy pill launch continues to exceed expectations, showing better-than-expected growth providing more confidence in the company’s commercial business.”
Prescriptions for the pill have surpassed the 3 million mark, Novo reported on Sunday, adding this “corresponds to one prescription filled roughly every five seconds.”
The Wegovy pill secured FDA approval in December 2025 as the first oral GLP-1 option for weight loss, followed less than four months later on April 1 by Lilly’s Foundayo.
On deck for Novo is an FDA decision for the treatment of obesity with CagriSema—a combination of semaglutide and amylin analogue cagrilintide. Novo filed its application for the product in December 2025, and Brett anticipates by the end of the year.
The company also plans to file a new drug application for CagriSema in type 2 diabetes after presenting data at ADA showing just over 14% weight reduction and “significant reductions” in hemoglobin A1c across the REIMAGINE 1-3 trials.
