Over the past quarter, Novo Nordisk shares fell more than 20% from recent highs, trading at a significant discount compared with peers despite reporting a 25% year-on-year increase in diabetes and obesity drug revenues during the third quarter of 2025. Investors reacted strongly to broader sector volatility and retail-driven narratives, pushing the stock below the psychologically important 50-euro level on December 10, 2025. This decline represented an overreaction to fundamentals, as management affirmed full-year guidance and cited manufacturing expansions in Germany and China capable of doubling injectable and oral GLP-1 capacity by 2027.

Novo Nordisk operates 30 manufacturing and distribution sites across Europe, Asia and Latin America, with over 60% of future capacity growth slated outside the U.S. The company’s investment of 1.8 billion euros in a new oral GLP-1 production facility in Denmark is set to commence shipments in mid-2026, ensuring supply of its recently approved oral obesity therapy, Wegovy Pill. In emerging markets such as India and Brazil, partnerships with local contract manufacturers will enable the company to offer lower-cost formulations, targeting an addressable obesity population of over 800 million adults by 2030.

Data from the first full week after the U.S. launch of the oral version of Wegovy shows 18,410 prescriptions dispensed, according to IQVIA. This uptake exceeded initial projections by 15%, driven by physician preference for a pill formulation and patient reluctance toward injection regimens. Market research indicates that 45% of primary care physicians surveyed now consider oral GLP-1 as first-line pharmacotherapy for obesity, up from 28% six months earlier, underscoring Novo Nordisk’s first-mover advantage in the expanding oral segment.