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Novo Nordisk Chief Executive Mike Doustdar said Wednesday the company aims to attract about 15 million new patients, at least initially, when Medicare first begins covering obesity treatments later this year.
About 67 million Americans “When you look specifically at our products and our target groups, I think about 15 million people is a good target group,” he told CNBC.
Medicare to start covering obesity drugs for first time under landmark ‘most-favored nation’ deal later this year drug pricing transactions Novo and its main competitors Eli Lilly and Company Conflict with the president Donald Trump November.
Health experts say the long-awaited coverage could expand the market for drugs and spur more private insurers to cover them. Some experts estimate that 20 million to 30 million Medicare patients suffer from obesity and related conditions.
Dustdahl said health insurance coverage, along with the launch of Novo’s new weight-loss drug and other factors, should help the company gradually increase prescription volumes and offset lower U.S. prices following the deal with Trump.
But he said he doesn’t expect Medicare to open up obesity treatment overnight.
“Now, it would be great if we could find a way to do it very, very quickly. But I think that’s a little naive,” said Dustdahl, who noted that adoption has been slow among eligible commercially insured patients.
It struck a slightly more conservative tone on the initial impact on health insurance coverage than Eli Lilly, which sees health insurance coverage as a key driver of its guidance for the year. Last week, Eli Lilly said it expected Medicare coverage to come online in July.
Meanwhile, Duestdal said Novo is in talks with the government about “specifically which month and which week it will open.”
Narrow the market share gap
Novo is under pressure to take back market share in the booming GLP-1 space from Eli Lilly and cheaper, complex imitators. Last week, Eli Lilly said its share of the U.S. obesity and diabetes drug market rose to 60.5% in the fourth quarter, compared with Novo Nordisk’s 39.1%.
Novo also highlighted the gap in “preference share” between its weight-loss drug Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s rival shot. Novo estimates that 7 to 8 out of 10 patients in the United States visit Eli Lilly.
Asked how Novo plans to close that gap, Dustdahl said one way is to “get better at medicines.” The company’s Wegovy obesity drug has a head start over Eli Lilly’s upcoming oral drug orforglipron, which is expected to win approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter.
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar, left, and Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks listen to President Donald Trump speak during an event about weight loss drugs in the Oval Office on Nov. 6, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Doustdar said Novo’s pill was slightly more effective than Eli Lilly’s pill, showing a 16.6% weight loss compared to only 12.4% for Eli Lilly’s oral version, based on separate clinical trials.
“If you use those two numbers, there’s basically a 40% difference between the efficacy of these drugs,” he said. “I think that’s going to be a very important selling point for the pill.”
But Doustdar also pointed to the impending approval and launch of a higher dose (7.2 mg) of Wegovy, which could help gain market share for Eli Lilly’s obesity treatment Zepbound.
The higher dose helped patients lose about 21 percent of their body weight, which was “very close” to Zepbound’s highest dose, he said. Zepbound’s higher efficacy is a key factor in prompting more patients and prescribers to abandon Wegovy, with clinical trials showing average weight loss of about 15% with Wegovy.
“When it comes to the market, my thought, my desire, my hope is that people will realize, okay, now we have two products that work similarly,” he said.
