Money Matters with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

Under the Radar: How is Wegovy and Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk navigating the next battleground for anti-obesity medication with its GLP-1 oral pills, and how far is it diversifying beyond metabolic health to manage long-term risks?

·34 min·3 clips

How is Novo Nordisk navigating patent expiries and oral pill competition to dominate the $95 billion obesity drug market?

Novo Nordisk begins this segment with scale on its side. The Danish drugmaker is described as operating across 170 countries, with production facilities in 13 and 10 R&D centres in markets including China, Denmark, India, the UK, and the US. Then the host turns the screw. GLP-1 injectables for diabetes and obesity care have made Novo Nordisk a market favourite, but that also raises the awkward question: what comes after the injection boom? Investors have plenty to watch. Eli Lilly is close behind, and the transcript flags patent expiries in key markets as another pressure point. That is why pills matter. Novo Nordisk has rolled out its first GLP-1 pill for weight loss in the US, so oral medication becomes the next practical test for obesity treatment. The APAC figures do a lot of the talking. The host notes 221% sales growth for GLP-1 obesity medicines in the region, compared with 65% in Europe and Canada and 46% in emerging markets. Jay Thyagarajan does not treat that as easy hype. He ties the growth to heavy demand, low treatment penetration, and very different healthcare systems across Asia-Pacific. Less than 2% are being treated. That number lands because the guest also describes the region as having 400 million patients with obesity and almost 200 million with diabetes. Australia leads the named markets, with obesity prevalence of almost 45%, followed by Japan, South Korea, and India as major demand drivers. Singapore stays in the story too, with 12% obesity prevalence, almost one in eight people, plus concern about childhood obesity and future adult risk. So the business story keeps circling back to access. Novo Nordisk wants to expand into more countries in 2026 and make GLP-1 innovation more affordable for more patients. The operating plan sounds less like a solo pharma sprint and more like a regional coordination job involving governments, industry players, and patients.

As heard by us

Novo Nordisk's next fight is pills, access, and the scale of unmet need in Asia-Pacific.

Novo Nordisk's next move is the piece's center of gravity: oral GLP-1 pills, patent expiry pressure, and competition from Eli Lilly all sit behind the growth outlook.

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