Novo Nordisk plummeted 27% this month, marking its worst month since the internet bubble, losing its position as the largest company in the European stock market

Once hailed as "Europe's strongest growth stock," Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is experiencing its most severe monthly decline since the burst of the internet bubble.

Since June of last year, affected by a series of negative factors, its stock price has fallen about 27% this month in the Copenhagen market, marking its worst monthly performance since June 2002. Since reaching nearly 1,000 Danish kroner in June 2024, Novo Nordisk has lost more than half of its value.

On Monday, Novo Nordisk's stock price in Copenhagen closed down 0.90% at 469.80 (Danish kroner), having cumulatively dropped 14.57% over the last ten trading days since the close on March 18, and over 24.73% in the first quarter of this year, continuing to decline since a 20.72% plunge on December 20, 2024.

Novo Nordisk's star products—weight loss injection Wegovy and diabetes medication Ozempic—have recently shown disappointing prescription data in the U.S. market. Morgan Stanley analyst Thibault Boutherin pointed out that the prescription growth for Wegovy has not met market expectations and company guidance, while major competitor Eli Lilly is rapidly capturing market share, and Novo Nordisk's total prescription volume and initial dose prescriptions are performing mediocrely.

To make matters worse, the research data for two of the company's potential new products is also unsatisfactory. The mid-term trial results for an oral weight loss drug, monlunabant, did not meet expectations, and another candidate injection drug, CagriSema, also delivered disappointing data. Market sentiment has thus come under further pressure.

Janus Henderson analyst Luyi Guo stated:

"A series of small setbacks are eroding market confidence. I do not believe Novo Nordisk has 'collapsed' as its stock price performance suggests, but the market is beginning to question its once-unmatched growth story."

On Monday, Barclays analyst Emily Field downgraded the U.S. sales forecast for Wegovy and Ozempic, stating that "the growth in prescription volume has not reached the levels set in our model."

Bloomberg data shows that despite recent heavy losses, Wall Street analysts remain generally optimistic, with about 70% still giving Novo Nordisk a "buy" rating, only 8.8% rating it as "sell," and another 20.6% as "hold." Novo Nordisk's steadfast bulls, Goldman Sachs analyst James Quigley, has not yet given up on tracking the stock.

From a sector performance perspective, the market is quietly cooling down. The entire biotechnology sector is also undergoing a broad correction, influenced by calls for reform led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), who vowed to overhaul this "captured" federal agency.

At the same time, affected by the policy uncertainties of RFK Jr.'s tenure at HHS, Goldman Sachs' constructed "GLP-1 winners basket" (companies driven by GLP-1 drugs as core growth engines) has cumulatively dropped about 25% over the past year, while the "GLP-1 losers basket" has averaged a 10% increase