Citi has maintained its ‘sell’ rating on Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), the Danish pharmaceutical giant, setting a price target of 265 Danish krone against a last close of 292.4 Danish krone.
The bank’s analyst Emmanuel Papadakis published Citi’s weekly IQVIA tracker of Novo’s GLP-1 assets, drawing on retail prescription data through August 21, 2026.
The tracker revealed that new-to-brand prescription trends declined across all of the company’s key GLP-1 obesity drugs during the period, with the sole exception of oral Wegovy.
Rybelsus, Novo’s oral GLP-1 treatment for type 2 diabetes, saw total prescriptions fall significantly across all prescriber groups, according to Citi’s analysis.
On a four-week rolling basis, total and new prescription growth for Ozempic came in at minus 9% and minus 3%, respectively, underscoring softening demand for the blockbuster injection.
Subcutaneous Wegovy performed considerably better over the same rolling period, posting total and new prescription growth of 12% and 16%, offering some relief for investors watching the obesity drug segment closely.
Citi noted that extrapolating current trends through the remainder of the financial year implies double-digit upside for both Ozempic and subcutaneous Wegovy relative to current consensus forecasts.
Rybelsus is tracking toward single-digit upside on the same basis, the bank said, while oral Wegovy remains broadly in line with market expectations heading into the final stretch of 2026.
The weekly tracker combines NRx and TRx data released on Fridays with NBRx figures published the following Monday afternoon, giving Citi a near real-time read on US retail demand for Novo’s flagship products.
The bank’s sell rating implies further downside of approximately 9% from Wednesday’s close, with weakening new-patient trends across most of Novo’s obesity portfolio cited as a central pressure point on the stock.
Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 franchise has been one of the most closely watched in global pharmaceuticals, as rising competition and shifting patient dynamics begin to reshape the landscape of the weight-loss drug market.
The prescription slowdown identified by Citi adds to a broader debate among analysts about whether peak growth for GLP-1 therapies is approaching sooner than the market had previously anticipated.
