Watch out, Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) shareholders -- there's yet another new competitor on the scene that could one day unseat the likes of Ozempic and Wegovy as a leading treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity. It's a next-gen weight loss pill being developed by a company you already know about: Novo Nordisk.

That's right, according to the Danish pharma giant's presentation on Thursday at the Capital Markets Day 2024 event, it has a candidate in early clinical trials that preliminarily appears to be even more effective than its blockbuster semaglutide drugs, which are selling so rapidly that it can't yet manufacture them quickly enough to meet demand. Here's what you need to know, about why this latest development constitutes yet another reason to be gobbling up shares of this stock.

Novo Nordisk's latest weight loss candidate is called amycretin. It works by targeting the same receptor that's targeted by Wegovy and Ozempic (both of which use the same active ingredient, semaglutide), as well as one other receptor, amylin. That combination of targets overlaps with, but is also distinctive from, major competing treatments like Eli Lilly's Zepbound. That means if amycretin is uniquely effective, it will take a while for a rival to replicate that approach, giving Novo's treatment a window to attract market share.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com