Novo Nordisk's Wegovy Pill Cuts Liver Fat in 88.5% of Patients as Shares Stay Stuck Near Yearly Lows

Novo Nordisk's STEP-UP analysis shows Wegovy normalized liver fat in 88.5% of obesity patients; shares stay near EUR 33, down 24% this year.

Novo Nordisk closed out this year's annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan with a fresh batch of clinical readouts, headlined by data showing that Wegovy normalized liver fat in a striking majority of obesity patients who had elevated levels to begin with.

Presented on Thursday, the STEP-UP analysis found that 88.5% of participants with initially raised liver fat brought the measure below 5% after 72 weeks of treatment. The Danish drugmaker used the conference to sharpen the profile of its metabolic portfolio, leaning into a question that has become central to its commercial story: whether established compounds can deliver therapeutic benefits that go beyond simple weight loss.

Real-World Switch Data Lands Alongside Cardiovascular Findings

Earlier in the week, Novo Nordisk rolled out real-world evidence from the OCTANE survey. The study, run with U.S. telehealth platform Ro, tracked 194 overweight or obese adults who had previously used injectable GLP-1 therapies such as semaglutide or tirzepatide before switching to a daily oral Wegovy tablet. After three months, they shed an average of 4.1% of body weight, or roughly 4.0 kilograms.

About 41% of those tracked cut their starting weight by at least 5%. The share of patients with a body mass index of 30 or higher fell from 87.1% to 65.5% over the observation window. Novo Nordisk is careful to flag the limits of that finding: OCTANE is a purely observational study with no control arm and no randomization, so it cannot establish a causal link between the switch and the weight loss. Only people who took the drug for three months without a gap exceeding 30 days were included, and no details on side effects or prior injection doses were released.

The oral version of Wegovy won FDA approval on December 22, 2025, with U.S. pharmacy rollout following on January 5, 2026. In the Phase 3 OASIS 4 trial, a daily 25-milligram maintenance dose produced average weight loss of 13.6% over 64 weeks, against 2.2% for placebo. Patients must take the pill on an empty stomach and then wait 30 minutes before eating.

A separate analysis unveiled Tuesday compared escalating Ozempic to two milligrams against a switch to tirzepatide in type 2 diabetes, yielding a 6% lower risk of major cardiovascular events for the Ozempic arm. Novo Nordisk will release further oral-treatment data in November at the ObesityWeek conference.

Pipeline Bet on a Phase 1 Asset Draws a Cool Reception

Running in parallel with the clinical updates, Novo Nordisk said Tuesday it had secured exclusive rights from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture and commercialize the candidate HRS-1596 outside China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The market greeted the deal with little enthusiasm. BMO Capital reaffirmed its "Market Perform" rating on the stock Tuesday with a $47 price target, noting that a candidate still being prepared for Phase 1 is unlikely to move the needle on near-term competitive dynamics.

Pricing Pressure Builds in Sweden

On the commercial side, Novo Nordisk faces mounting pressure on price and reimbursement. The company cut the price of Wegovy in Sweden by 20% effective October 1, aiming to curb therapy discontinuation driven by cost. According to media reports, it has also filed a new reimbursement application there for specific high-risk patients.

Shares Barely Budge as the Growth Debate Lingers

The stock has taken little direction from the string of study wins. Novo Nordisk shares changed hands at EUR 33.34 on the day of the latest readout, essentially flat with a gain of 0.05%, and sit at EUR 33.38 in recent trading — down 24% since the start of the year.

Investor anxiety over the company's long-term growth trajectory remains the dominant theme. The shares came under pressure at September's capital markets day, when shareholders questioned Novo Nordisk's pricing power ahead of looming patent expirations on semaglutide. Doubts persist, according to Reuters, over whether planned pipeline revenue will be enough to offset those risks in time.