{"id":1550187,"date":"2025-07-31T21:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1550187"},"modified":"2025-07-31T21:40:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:40:00","slug":"ubs-finds-over-a-million-americans-using-unapproved-compounded-glp-1s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/ubs-finds-over-a-million-americans-using-unapproved-compounded-glp-1s\/1550187\/","title":{"rendered":"UBS Finds Over A Million Americans Using\u00a0&#8220;Unapproved&#8221; Compounded GLP-1s"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">UBS Finds Over A Million Americans Using\u00a0&#8220;Unapproved&#8221; Compounded GLP-1s<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>Shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk have experienced a sharp sell-off this week after slashing its full-year sales and profit guidance, citing softening Wegovy demand driven by compounded GLP-1 headwinds. If losses hold through Friday, the magnitude of the drawdown will mark the largest weekly decline ever for the stock trading in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>A key question right now among some institutional investors: <em>Has the correction created a compelling entry point in Novo?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with the technicals: Shares on the week are down about 29%, the largest weekly decline ever for shares trading in\u00a0Copenhagen. This followed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/novo-shares-crash-most-record-after-forecast-slashed-compounded-glp-1-headwinds\">surprise sales and profit warning<\/a> earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2025-07-31_09-55-39.png?itok=qRD80gMU\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Novo shares peaked in early June 2024 and have since tumbled 69%. Much of the GLP-1 hype cycle has now unwound, with the stock trading back at January 2022 levels.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2025-07-31_10-19-08.png?itok=_PCT_0SG\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Much of the downturn in Novo shares was accompanied by Goldman analysts repeatedly telling clients how compelling the stock was at every dead-cat bounce. Now, with the stock back at 2022 levels, we ask the same question, this time, with patience &#8230; for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>A new note from UBS analysts led by\u00a0Matthew Weston outlines what&#8217;s next after the profit warning earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2025-07-31_10-17-36.png?itok=oPpWeCGV\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Following a surprise sales and profit warning for 2025, we place our Rating and Price Target for Novo Nordisk under review<\/strong>,&#8221;\u00a0Weston told clients.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s more from the analyst:<\/p>\n<p><em>We were previously at the bottom end of the FY25 guidance range and had cautioned that a significant inflection in US GLP-1 growth was needed to meet guidance expectations. <\/em><strong><em>But the magnitude of the FY25 cuts was well ahead of UBS and market expectations<\/em><\/strong><em>. Novo now targets 8-14% CER sales growth (from 13-21%) versus UBSe 13.4%, cons c.15.8%. For EBIT, new guidance is 10-16% CER growth (from 16-24%) versus UBSe 18.9% and cons c.19.5%.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The debate between Weston and his fellow analysts centers on the issue of unapproved GLP-1 compounds on the market. He estimates that <strong>at least one million Americans are currently using these compounded versions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of those key questions:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>How can Novo address the threat of U.S. compounding?<\/em><\/strong><em> Novo&#8217;s market intelligence <strong>estimates 1 million U.S. patients still take unapproved compounded sema<\/strong>. Compounded product acts as a drain on the potential patient pool at a price point well below branded levels ($150 vs $499\/month). We have been assuming compounding would wind down over 3Q25, returning to a normal branded competitive market. If widespread compounding remains, the outlook for US Wegovy would seem uncertain.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>What is a reasonable exit rate for sales growth into 2026?<\/em><\/strong><em> 2026 will balance the impact of compounding &amp; LLY competition vs launch opportunities from MASH &amp; oral Wegovy 25mg obesity. What is the valuation baseline and blue\/grey sky scenarios?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>What is the long-term NPV impact of compounding threats and IRA price cuts versus the significant potential of the global obesity patient population?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s critical from Novo&#8217;s earnings report is this line:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;<\/em><strong><em>Novo Nordisk is pursuing multiple strategies, including litigation, to protect patients from knockoff &#8216;semaglutide&#8217; drugs<\/em><\/strong><em>. Novo Nordisk is deeply concerned that, without aggressive intervention by federal and state regulators and law enforcement, patients will continue to be exposed to the significant risks posed by knockoff &#8216;semaglutide&#8217; drugs made with illicit or inauthentic foreign active pharmaceutical ingredients.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A resolution to the widespread availability of compounded GLP-1 products in the U.S. marketplace could mark a potential bottom for Novo shares.\u00a0This could occur through &#8220;multiple strategies,&#8221; as outlined by Novo above.\u00a0Such a development would help lift the clouded outlook for\u00a0Wegovy sales and potentially slow the\u00a0ongoing erosion of U.S. market share to unapproved alternatives. This has yet to occur.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" class=\"username\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Thu, 07\/31\/2025 &#8211; 17:40<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/ubs-finds-million-americans-using-unapproved-compounded-glp-1s\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"\">https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/ubs-finds-million-americans-using-unapproved-compounded-glp-1s<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UBS Finds Over A Million Americans Using\u00a0&#8220;Unapproved&#8221; Compounded GLP-1s Shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk have experienced a sharp sell-off this week after slashing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1550188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1550187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1550187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1550187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1550187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1550187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}