By Elsa Ohlen

Novo Nordisk stock slumped early Monday as it was facing a hit to revenue from several different directions. This was amid a broader market that was soaring.

Novo's American depositary receipts were down 3.7% to $63.33 in premarket trading. Shares were down as much as 4.1% in midday trading in Denmark.

Most global pharmaceutical stocks were under pressure to start the week.

Early Monday, Trump posted on the social-media platform Truth Social that U.S. drug prices would be slashed by 59%. He is expected to sign an executive order at 9 a.m. Eastern time Monday what would cut prices for medicines to the lowest level paid in comparable countries, or so-called "most-favored-nation" pricing.

Details are still scarce on what exactly the order will entail and what drugs would affected.

Novo Nordisk makes the widely popular GLP-1 class of drugs under the brands Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight-loss. The majority of revenue comes from U.S. sales, where the company charges more for the medicine than it does in European countries.

In the first quarter of 2025, Novo reported total sales of 78.1 billion Danish kroner, or about $11.6 billion. About 44.3 DKK of that came from U.S. sales, or about 57%.

Assuming all of Novo's U.S. sales suffer a price cut of 59%, that would cause revenue to drop to about 18.2 billion DKK, a decrease of total sales of 33.4%, not accounting for an increases in volumes due to lower prices or for price hikes elsewhere, Barron's estimates.

Volumes are likely to increase with lower medicine prices, but another headlind could be patients turning to rival Eli Lilly's drug tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight-loss.

On Monday, Eli Lilly presented the full details on a study that pinned Wegovy and Zepbound against each other in a head-to-head trial. The study found that participants achieved an average weight-loss of 20.2% with Zepbound versus 13.7% with Wegovy over 72 weeks.

Novo Nordisk didn't immediately respond to a request to comment on the study's findings.

While the headline results of the study were already known, it could reinforce the Wall Street narrative that Eli Lilly is gaining market share at the expense of Novo.

This, coupled with Trump's promises to force a price cut on certain drugs, this is an uncertain time for investors.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 12, 2025 08:23 ET (12:23 GMT)

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