The maker of weight-loss drug Wegovy closed as Europe’s most valuable company on Monday, drawing attention to the potential of pills that can fulfill the age-old desire to effortlessly make people slimmer.
Novo Nordisk
(ticker: NVO) closed 0.7% higher in Denmark, boosted by the launch of Wegovy in the U.K., to overtake French luxury goods maker
LVMH
as the firm with the biggest market capitalization in Europe. Shares of the pharmaceutical company have added 41% this year and were heading higher in early trading Tuesday.
Indianapolis-based
Eli Lilly
(LLY) is Novo Nordisk’s biggest competitor in weight-loss drugs, and it has applied for regulatory approval for its drug Mounjaro to treat obesity. The market is big and growing. Last month, researchers showed that Wegovy helped heart-failure patients gain stamina in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Novo Nordisk’s market value is now around $420 billion.
Eli Lilly
‘s is at around $530 billion. For comparison,
Exxon Mobil’s
market value is $455 billion.
Wegovy launched in the U.S. in June 2021. In Europe, it’s also available in Norway, Denmark, and Germany.
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]
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