The Devil’s Semaglutide: Novo’s Weighty Gambit

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Novo Nordisk (NVO)-that most serpentine of Ozempic alchemists-has seen its shares dance a waltz of ascent, spurred by whispers from the Financial Times. The paper, that scribe of capital’s caprices, reports trials where semaglutide, the drug’s active ingredient, was dosed with such voracity (7.2 mg) that corpulent patients shed 19% of their mortal coil over 72 weeks. A feat, one might say, worthy of Icarus, were his waxen wings infused with GLP-1 agonists.

The stock, currently buoyed by 2.1%, wavers like a pawn in a cosmic game of backgammon between Wall Street and the Kremlin. Or perhaps it is the devil himself, penning this column, who chuckles at the spectacle.

A rising tide could lift Novo’s boat-or capsize it

Novo’s trials, as the FT recounts, are a tale of dosage and dominion. At 2.4 mg, the average sinner loses 16% of their weight; at 7.2 mg, the figure climbs to 19%. A trifling 3% difference, yet in the alchemy of markets, such increments are golden. But lo! Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide-active ingredient in Mounjaro-proves a more voracious glutton for weight loss, shedding 19.5% at 10 mg and 20.9% at 15 mg. Yet here, the FT offers a sly wink: Novo’s elixir, if priced as an “affordable” alternative, may yet wrest market share from Lilly’s grasp. Or so the angels and devils in lab coats decree.

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Is Novo Nordisk stock a buy? A Faustian Bargain?

Consider this, dear reader: Novo’s shares trade at a mere 14 times earnings, a pittance compared to Lilly’s 49. And dividends? Novo offers 3.1%, while Lilly’s 0.8% pales like moonlight in a coal mine. Yet here lies the rub: should Novo, following FT‘s counsel, slash prices for Ozempic and Wegovy to seize market share, its profits may wither like a rose in Siberia. The P/E ratio would bloom, yes-but at what cost? A stock’s value is but a mirror, reflecting the soul of its strategy. Or perhaps the devil’s grin.

And so we are left with a question as old as finance itself: Is Novo Nordisk a paragon of value, or a tragicomedy in waiting? The answer, as always, lies in the dosage-of semaglutide, of hubris, and of hope.

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2025-09-15 18:52