By Mrinalika Roy and Siddhi Mahatole
Feb 3 (Reuters) – Shares of obesity drugmakers and developers slid on Tuesday, after Novo Nordisk forecast a sharper-than-expected sales decline for 2026, underscoring intensifying competition in the blockbuster weight-loss market.
Eli Lilly was down about 4.1%, Structure Therapeutics fell 8.1% and Altimmune dropped 3.5%. Viking Therapeutics declined more than 4% and Amgen slipped nearly 1% in afternoon trading.
Wegovy-maker Novo said it expects sales to drop between 5% and 13% this year, compared with analysts’ average expectation of a 2% decline. Its U.S.-listed shares fell 14.2% to $50.57.
The Danish drugmaker also reported a 14% fall in fourth-quarter operating profit to 31.7 billion Danish crowns, slightly above the estimate of 31.2 billion crowns.
Jonathan Wolleben, equity research analyst at Citizens, said he was “surprised” to see weakness in Structure Therapeutics shares on Tuesday, noting that trading volumes were modest and the broader sector was also under pressure.
“Novo’s showing there’s a market for oral options, and the demand for orals will certainly remain, especially if longer‑acting injections don’t match efficacy and tolerability expectations,” Wolleben said.
Separately, Wolleben added Pfizer reported somewhat “disappointing data” for its monthly GLP injection that could be weighing on Structure’s shares.
The drug, given as a monthly injection, showed sustained weight loss at 28 weeks, Pfizer said, adding that it is targeting 2028 for its first approval in the fast-growing weight-loss drug market.
Pfizer shares were down 3.5% at $25.73 in afternoon trade.
The broader selloff comes as Wall Street is reassessing long-held expectations that the obesity drug market could hit $150 billion early next decade, as U.S. prices for GLP-1 treatments from Novo and Lilly fall sharply and competition intensifies in the cash-pay consumer market.
Analysts have pushed out peak sales timelines and trimmed forecasts, with some now seeing the market closer to $80 billion to $105 billion by 2030.
($1 = 6.3201 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy and Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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