Zealand Pharma loses a fifth of its value as many users gave up taking weight-loss drug during trial

By Steve Goldstein

A late-stage trial of a weight-loss drug found about a fifth of users discontinuing the treatment due to tolerability.

Zealand Pharma lost a fifth of its market value on Monday after a late-stage trial found many patients stopped taking a weight-loss drug due to tolerability problems.

Zealand Pharma (DK:ZEAL) shares fell 22% in Copenhagen trade, after saying Boehringer Ingelheim's survodutide Phase III trial found about a fifth of users discontinuing the treatment due to gastrointestinal issues, versus just under 3% on the placebo arm. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the low tolerability is likely to limit utilization in the obesity market.

The drug is targeted adults living with obesity or overweight, without type 2 diabetes, and adults with overweight or obesity with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Zealand Pharma said it is eligible for high single to low double-digit percentage royalties on global sales of survodutide and 315 million euros in potential outstanding milestone payments.

Novo Nordisk (DK:NOVO.B) (NVO), its larger rival, slipped 2% in Copenhagen trade as it reported prescriptions for its Wegovy weight-loss pill have surpassed three million since launching in early January.

-Steve Goldstein

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06-08-26 0444ET