Shares of Novo Nordisk (NVO 5.01%), the Danish pharmaceuticals company famed for Ozempic and Wegovy weight loss drugs, jumped 5% through 9:55 a.m. ET Monday on a series of positive announcements for its GLP-1 products.
Two of these announcements concern weight loss. One doesn't.
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Novo Nordisk cuts prices
In a pair of press releases this morning, Novo announced it's cutting the cash cost for 0.5 mg, 1 mg, and 2 mg doses of Ozempic to $499 per month "for self-paying patients." And separately, the company says it's collaborating with GoodRx to sell all dose sizes of both Ozempic and Wegovy to patients for the $499 price.
In both instances, Novo appears to be targeting competition from telehealth providers like Ro and Hims & Hers Health, declaring, "We believe that if even a single patient feels the need to turn to potentially unsafe and unapproved knockoff alternatives [because of price], that's one too many."
On top of all that, CNBC reports that Novo's Wegovy GLP-1 drug has won FDA approval for treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) liver disease in adults.
Is Novo Nordisk stock a buy?
In a statement, Novo pointed out that Wegovy is now "the first and only GLP-1 treatment approved for MASH," a disease that affects about 5% of U.S. adults, opening up a new market that (for now) neither Hims & Hers nor archrival Eli Lilly can compete in.
Valued at just 13 times trailing earnings, Novo Nordisk stock was already looking cheap based on its 3.5% dividend yield and 11.3% projected long-term earnings growth rate. While it's too soon to say how much the MASH indication will add to that growth rate, it will add something.
That fact alone makes Novo Nordisk stock even more of a buy today.
