Novo Nordisk Surpasses LVMH to Become Europe’s Most Valuable Company

The hype surrounding the Wegovy weight loss injection has caused Novo Nordisk shares to soar. Now the Danish pharmaceutical company has even replaced a French company as the most valuable company on the continent

The weight loss syringe Wegovy from the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is very popular. The hype surrounding Wegovy has now even helped Novo Nordisk to become the most valuable company in Europe: the company overtook French luxury goods giant LVMH on Tuesday. Novo Nordisk achieved a market capitalization of the equivalent of 424 billion dollars – well ahead of LVMH with 411 billion euros.

In the last few days, the two companies have been in a real neck-and-neck race: the market value of the Danes rose to $421 billion on Friday, putting Novo Nordisk two hours ahead of LVMH, whose market capitalization was 420 at the same time was $.97 billion. A little later, however, LVMH again overtook Novo Nordisk. Now the Danish company has cemented its dominance. Novo Nordisk is currently worth more than the Dax heavyweights SAP, Siemens, Telekom and Mercedes-Benz together.

Weight loss drug Wegovy as a course injection

Novo Nordisk stock has tripled in price since 2020. In August alone, the paper rose nearly 20 percent after a study showed clear benefits of its obesity drug in cardiovascular disease.

Novo Nordisk is now launching its weight loss drug Wegovy on the British market – it was previously available in the USA, Denmark, Norway and, since the end of July, in Germany. The monthly outlay for private patients in the UK is estimated at around £199-299.

In the past year, Novo Nordisk has significantly expanded its business with slimming syringes, with demand in the USA in particular being immense. At times, patients could no longer get the drug. Sales increased by 26 percent to the equivalent of 24 billion euros. The company is now larger than Bayer’s pharmaceutical division. A third of this turnover is attributable to the Ozempic product. This is a drug made of the same material, but which is prescribed for diabetes. Wegovy is specifically prescribed for obesity, but it comes at a significantly higher price.

What else you should know about Novo Nordisk