NVO.US' new weight loss drug for diabetes patients falls short of expectations, causing premarket shares to plummet.

Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) said on Monday that its experimental next-generation drug CagriSema helped overweight or obese type 2 diabetes patients lose 15.7% of their weight after 68 weeks. As of writing, Novo Nordisk was down 6.64% premarket to $81.38. Analyst David Evans of Kepler Cheuvreux said investors had expected the figure to be closer to 20%. It is the second major disappointment for CagriSema, which showed weaker-than-expected weight loss in a trial in non-diabetic people last December.

"This further weakens the CagriSema story and raises questions about Novo Nordisk's future pipeline," Evans said.

The stock fell 6.5% in Copenhagen, its biggest intraday drop since Dec. 20, when CagriSema's first major study was published. The stock has fallen 37% in the past 12 months, as investors worry about the company's long-term competitiveness in the weight-loss market.

The new data from the REDEFINE 2 phase 3 trial, which was based on about 1,200 type 2 diabetes patients with a body mass index of 27 or above, was released Monday.

Novo Nordisk said in a statement that the REDEFINE 2 trial was flexible, allowing patients to adjust their dose during the trial. The company added that 61.9% of patients taking CagriSema were on the highest dose after 68 weeks.

If all patients had stuck with CagriSema, patients would have lost 15.7% of their weight after 68 weeks, compared with 3.1% for the placebo group. A weight loss of 5% or more was a co-primary endpoint, and 89.7% of patients taking CagriSema achieved that, compared with 30.3% of those taking placebo.

CagriSema is a fixed-dose combination of 2.4 mg of liraglutide and 2.4 mg of semaglutide, both long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. The molecules help people eat less and reduce calorie intake by reducing hunger and increasing satiety.

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