Maziar Mike Doustdar, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks in the Oval Office during an event about weight-loss drugs at the White House in Washington, DC on November 6, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images
Novo Nordisk entered 2026 with the momentum of a historic year in more ways than one – but recent weeks have delivered more drama than most companies might expect over a decade.
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The Danish drugmaker kicked off the year with the explosive launch of the first-ever GLP-1 pill for obesity. Its recent challenges have centered around protecting its market share in the blockbuster weight loss drug market, all while its stock price swings wildly.
“Enough has occurred in the past week to occupy a few volumes,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Papadakis on Tuesday, as he — like many of his Wall Street peers — lowered his price target on the stock following the gloomy outlook.
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The rapid news flow has given investors whiplash. So far in February, U.S.-listed Novo shares have traded across a spread ranging from $43.24 to $64.16, shedding as much as 14% in a single day only to gain 10% back in a later session.
Novo Nordisk U.S.-listed shares over the last month.
The latest developments add to a thorny situation for Novo as it risks being edged out by Lilly and the growing number of people taking cheaper compounded versions of semaglutide, which are unapproved copycats of Novo’s Wegovy jab.
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CEO Mike Doustdar, who took the reins in August after the former CEO was ousted over misjudging the U.S. market and challenges there, has a plan to steer the company through what’s been described as a “show me” year.
His agenda is extensive: cracking down on those compounded knock-offs, sustaining strong demand for its newly launched obesity pill, building prescription volumes in the U.S. and bringing new, next-generation obesity and diabetes treatments to market.
In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Doustdar acknowledged the challenges ahead but said 2026 “is also a year of growth in many ways.”
“We will have more patients this year than ever before, we will produce more than last year and years before that,” he said.
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Doustdar said around 246,000 patients are currently on the company’s Wegovy pill, which launched at the beginning of January and is already outpacing the early rollouts of existing GLP-1 injections.
“This, of course, tells me that while the investors are feeling a bit of a headwind on the pricing side and the whole business as you’re alluding to, they are hopefully getting convinced that over a period of time that would wash out and that growth will come,” Doustdar said.
Telehealth firms like Hims have profited massively from selling so-called compounded versions of injectable semaglutide under a regulatory loophole that allows other companies to sell copycats of the drugs if the branded medicines are in short supply. While branded semaglutide injections are no longer in short supply after a notable demand spike, the companies have continued to mass market cheaper versions directly to consumers, raising legal questions.
“We understand why compounding, mass compounding, got started. It was on the back of a shortage. We really don’t understand why it continued,” Doustdar told CNBC on Wednesday, noting that Novo’s opposition has nothing to do with medically necessary compounding for individual cases.
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Hims last week announced plans to sell a compounded version of Novo’s newly launched Wegovy pill for roughly $100 less than Novo sells the branded version for, though it quickly backed down after Novo said it would sue over patent infringement and the FDA announced a broader crackdown on compounding. The agency also said it had referred Hims to the Department of Justice over potential violations.
The Hers website arranged on a laptop in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Novo moved to sue Hims on Monday over compounded versions of both injectable and oral semaglutide, adding to more than 130 lawsuits the drugmaker has filed against pharmacies, wellness clinics and other firms unlawfully marketing those copycats.
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“The news last Thursday about the pill… was seen as kind of the last straw for many people,” Rothschild & Co Redburn analystSimon Baker told CNBC.
From the point of view of U.S. regulators, removing cheaper drugs from the market at a time when the Trump administration has made lower drug prices for Americans a priority might not have been an easy sell, Baker said.
But, “when we got the move on the pill, there was a realization that this has just gone a little bit too far,” he added. “You can’t have people launching knock-off versions of pills five weeks after the brand gets launched.”
“That would destroy the industry.”
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If Novo can get the compounding issue under control, the company can potentially win back some market share and turn things around for sales projections, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.
Doustdar called it “a very strong signal” that the government acknowledged the compounding fight with Hims and “articulated that very publicly. We welcome that.”
Of course, a government crackdown on compounding wouldn’t clear the way for Novo alone.
Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound already enjoys significant market share, and the company is preparing to launch its own oral version.
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The market share race
A combination image shows an injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, and boxes of Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk.
Hollie Adams | Reuters
The battle for U.S. market share could amount to a must-win for Novo — the weight loss segment accounted for more than half of its sales in 2025.
Lilly is estimated to have around 60% of the branded GLP-1 market globally, while Novo has about 39%. Novo has also highlighted a gap in the “preference share” for Wegovy versus Lilly’s injections.
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Lilly’s obesity drug Zepbound has shown more pronounced weight loss than Wegovy and has become the preferred medicine among patients and prescribers, despite launching years after Novo’s drugs.
In the U.S., Novo estimates that between 7 and 8 patients out of 10 go to Lilly.
Meanwhile, in the compounding market, the share of copycats for Novo’s drug far outweighs that of Lilly’s.
“It’s a curious question as to why in the branded market, Lilly has a much bigger share than Novo but in the compounded market, there’s a lot more of Novo’s molecule than there’s of Lilly’s,” Baker noted. “We don’t know the answer.”
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Novo is banking on the Wegovy pill to help with its eroding market share and says it’s already reaching entirely new patients. Doustdar has said that 88% of people on the pill are taking the lowest starter dose of the drug, signaling that many patients have been waiting on oral options.
Lilly is expected to launch its rival weight loss pill, orforglipron, in the second quarter of 2026. Investors are closely watching how that will pan out, especially as Novo has lost its first-mover advantage before.
“They’re putting a lot of muscle behind the marketing of [Wegovy pill], including now a reinvigorated direct-to-consumer channel, which they were a little bit late to arrive at,” TD Cowen analyst Michael Nedelcovych told CNBC. “That seems to be paying dividends.”
Still life of the new Wegovy semaglutide tablets on a white background. Its a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and .and physical activity.
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Michael Siluk | Universal Images Group | Getty Images
Doustdar touted the pill’s efficacy, which is on par with the Wegovy injection and superior to Lilly’s oral drug based on separate clinical trials. The Wegovy pill showed around 16.6% weight loss on average compared to roughly 12.4% on average with Lilly’s oral drug.
“If you use these two numbers, basically you have a 40% difference between the efficacy of these pills,” he said. “I think this is going to be a very main, main selling point of the pill.”
When Lilly eventually launches orforglipron, its primary marketing point will likely be aimed at convincing customers that the Wegovy pill is inconvenient because of certain food restrictions. That makes Novo’s head start extra important as it offers them a chance to lay the groundwork and convince people of the contrary.
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Novo contends that those dietary requirements won’t hinder uptake. But Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger told CNBC last week that it could help Lilly’s pill eventually generate greater sales globally.
Still, while sales of both companies’ drugs may soar, prices are coming down across the board.
U.S. pricing headwinds
The GLP-1 market is facing broad price erosion following landmark “most favored nation” deals between companies and the Trump administration. It’s unclear how much of the price decline can be offset by volume increases.
“No matter how well we do initially to catch up with the price decrease … of course mathematically, [it] takes a bit of time,” Doustdar said, adding the company is “very hopeful” and “working day and night to accelerate those volume uptakes.”
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Analysts largely believe Novo is being intentionally cautious with its sales projections, baking in the expected pricing pressures.
“There are a number of pushes and pulls in 2026, some have quite high visibility, some have lower visibility… I think Novo have added in the things of high visibility more than the things of low visibility,” said Baker.
Where there’s higher visibility is where pricing is coming down, generics in Canada and a few other markets, and restrictions on Medicaid for some of their drugs, Baker said: “They’ve got these negatives in quite fully.”
“Given the problems they had last year, they don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver,” he said.
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Novo’s guidance likely doesn’t include any reduction in the volume of compounded drugs on the market, as the FDA’s announcement of its “decisive steps” to restrict GLP-1 compounding came after the guidance was released.
But the price sensitivity of consumers for weight loss drugs remains a big unknown, which makes greater volumes and more access points important.
Novo is anticipating Medicare coverage for weight loss treatments, expected to begin later this year, to open up a 15 million-patient opportunity, Doustdar told CNBC.
Around 67 million Americans are covered by Medicare, but “when you take a look at specifically our products and the target group, I think around 15 million people would be a good number to target,” Doustdar said. Though he said Medicare access to obesity treatments will open up gradually.
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Next-generation treatments
Flags with the logo of Novo Nordisk flutter next to the company’s factory in Hillerod on Nov. 12, 2025.
Sergei Gapon | AFP | Getty Images
Novo is also pinning its hopes on other drugs in its pipeline to help it claw back market share. That includes a higher dose – 7.2 milligrams – of Wegovy, which is waiting for FDA approval and could make the drug a stronger competitor to Zepbound.
Doustdar said that higher dose helps patients lose around 21% of their weight, which is “very much on par” with the highest dose of Zepbound. Wegovy, under its approved doses, has shown around 15% weight loss on average in clinical trials.
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“When that comes to the market, my thought, my wish, my hope is that people will realize, OK, now we have two products with similar efficacy,” Doustdar said.
He added that “hopefully will also change the dynamic as we go forward,” referring to the market’s increasing preference for Zepbound.
BMO’s Seigerman said it’s difficult to say whether that will be the case, as Zepbound is already entrenched as the best product in the injectable market.
Later this year, Novo expects its next-generation treatment called CagriSema to enter the market. That experimental weekly injection combines semaglutide with cagrilintide, which mimics another gut hormone called amylin.
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Novo Nordisk has defended CagriSema’s trial results, which disappointed investors, coming in under the expected 25% weight loss on average.
On Wednesday, Doustdar said the company was “penalized quite harshly by the stock market” for those results, which showed around 23% weight loss. But he said the drug would be “one of the best products out there” if it were available today.
To assess the real efficacy of the drug, “you need to look at all the data together,” he added, pointing to three upcoming phase three trials for the drug, including one study that pits CagriSema against Zepbound.
When asked whether Novo needs to further diversify away from obesity like competitors, Doustdar argued that the company doesn’t see obesity or diabetes as a single, monolithic disease and sees more opportunity in developing multiple, specialized therapies within the category.
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While the world labels millions of patients simply as “obese,” he said the underlying biology and severity of the condition vary widely – from someone who needs to lose a modest amount of weight to someone with severe complications like fatty liver disease requiring a transplant.
And as the market matures, Novo’s sales are still growing year-on-year on a constant currency basis, albeit at a slower pace than before. Only time will tell when, or if, that will change.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck northwestern Louisiana early Thursday, March 5, 2026, awakening residents across the region and marking the second-strongest recorded tremor in the state’s history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Louisiana Earthquake: Rare 4.9 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Louisiana, Second-Strongest in History
The quake hit at approximately 5:30 a.m. CST (6:30 a.m. EST), with its epicenter located about 6 miles west of Edgefield in Red River Parish, roughly 36-40 miles south-southeast of Shreveport. The USGS initially reported the magnitude as 4.4 before upgrading it to 4.9 based on refined data. The shallow depth of about 3-5 miles (5-10 km) contributed to widespread felt shaking despite the moderate size.
Residents from Shreveport and Bossier City to Coushatta and beyond described noticeable jolts that rattled windows, shook furniture, rattled pipes and briefly disrupted sleep. Social media flooded with reports of “the house shaking like a truck hit it” and questions about whether it was a train, explosion or genuine seismic event. The tremor was felt across much of northern Louisiana and into parts of eastern Texas, with some accounts extending to areas near Texarkana.
No immediate reports of serious injuries, structural collapses or major infrastructure damage emerged by midday Thursday. Emergency management officials in Red River, Bossier and Caddo parishes activated protocols to assess buildings, bridges and utilities, but preliminary surveys indicated only minor issues such as cracked drywall or dislodged items in homes. The USGS issued a green alert for the event, signaling a low probability of casualties or significant economic losses from shaking.
Seismologists noted the rarity of such an event in Louisiana, a state not typically associated with frequent or powerful earthquakes. The Pelican State’s seismic history is dominated by smaller events, often linked to the regional fault systems or induced activity from oil and gas operations in some cases. The previous strongest quake was a magnitude 5.3 event off Grand Isle in southern Louisiana on Feb. 9, 2006 — an offshore tremor tied to different tectonic dynamics.
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Thursday’s quake ranks as the strongest inland earthquake in Louisiana records and the most powerful to affect the Shreveport area in decades. It surpasses recent minor activity in the region, including a 2.9 magnitude event near Coushatta in late February 2026 and several 2.6-3.1 tremors since late 2025. The area’s geology includes parts of the stable interior of the North American plate, but proximity to the New Madrid Seismic Zone to the north and Gulf Coast subsidence features can allow occasional felt events.
Experts from the USGS and local universities emphasized that while the quake was significant for the area, it remains below thresholds typically associated with widespread destruction. “Magnitude 4.9 events produce strong shaking near the epicenter but rarely cause major damage unless structures are particularly vulnerable,” one seismologist commented in initial briefings. The event’s shallow focus amplified intensity, leading to “moderately strong” perceived shaking (Modified Mercalli Intensity V-VI) close to the epicenter.
Local officials urged residents to check for gas leaks, inspect chimneys and report any structural concerns to authorities. The Red River Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police coordinated response efforts, while the National Weather Service and emergency broadcasters disseminated safety information. No tsunami risk existed, given the inland location.
The quake prompted a surge in “Did You Feel It?” submissions to the USGS website, helping refine intensity maps. Community reactions ranged from surprise to curiosity, with some longtime residents recalling faint tremors in past years but nothing of this caliber. Social media posts included videos of swaying light fixtures and personal accounts from as far as 100 miles away.
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Geologists continue monitoring for aftershocks, which are possible but expected to be minor. As of early March 6, 2026 (KST — corresponding to late March 5 evening local time), no significant follow-up events had been recorded, though small aftershocks below magnitude 2.0 may go undetected without sensitive instruments.
This event underscores Louisiana’s occasional seismic vulnerability, even in areas considered low-risk. State emergency preparedness officials used the occasion to remind residents of basic earthquake safety: drop, cover and hold on during shaking, and secure heavy objects to prevent hazards in future incidents.
As investigations into the quake’s precise cause continue — potentially natural tectonic stress or linked to regional subsurface activity — northwest Louisiana returned to normalcy Thursday afternoon. Schools, businesses and transportation operated without major disruptions, though the morning’s rare rumble left an impression on a region more accustomed to hurricanes and floods than earthquakes.
The 4.9 magnitude tremor serves as a reminder of nature’s unpredictability, even in stable continental interiors. Authorities and scientists will analyze data in coming days to better understand this unusual addition to Louisiana’s seismic catalog.
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Combined Authority aims to tackle shortages of lab space and Grade A offices
Sci-Tech Daresbury is one of Liverpool City Region’s key tech hubs(Image: STFC)
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has announced new funding for property developments to help meet demand for lab space and to tackle the shortage in Grade A office supply. Authority bosses say the funding is designed to “help address key market failures” analysed in the city region’s growth plan for 2025-2035.
Studies show the city region has a “significant demand” for laboratory space, a shortage of Grade A office supply, and a need for more “high-quality industrial accommodation”. The funding launched today has been designed to unlock inward investment and to encourage developers to provide that space.
This round will focus on backing “capital land and property projects that support sector-led clusters”, and on backing schemes where there are “demonstrative viability gaps”. The authority plans to launch more such funding calls in the months and years ahead.
Grade A Office Space: The CA is “seeking to invest in projects which deliver a minimum 60,000 sq. ft of new or refurbished commercial floorspace which can meet the needs of existing occupiers and support business growth in the Central Business District”.
Specialist Laboratory Space: The authority is looking to invest in schemes “which deliver new or refurbished Category 1 or 2 laboratory space, clean room space and ‘write up’ facilities which can support the growth of high potential start-ups in the Liverpool City Region. This will require delivery of at least 40% of overall floor space for laboratory or clean room uses, which contributes to the Health & Life Sciences sector”.
Premium Industrial Units: The CA is looking to invest in new or refurbished units “to support the growth of the region’s advanced manufacturing sector”.
Cllr Mike Wharton, Liverpool City Region’s cabinet member for business, investment and trade, said: “Unlocking high quality land and property is fundamental to the future of the Liverpool City Region. These new funding calls will accelerate the development of the modern offices, laboratories and industrial space our growing sectors need.
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“This is about creating the right conditions for businesses to innovate, invest and expand, so that our communities continue to benefit from more jobs, more opportunities and a stronger, more resilient economy.”
To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.
‘The Big Money Show’ panelists discuss California’s energy policies its impact on gas prices as well as the oil industry.
Chevron is sounding a dire alarm, warning California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state regulators that newly proposed “cap-and-invest” amendments are a death knell for California’s remaining refineries.
The energy giant warns the move will kill more than half a million jobs, threaten national security and spike gas prices by more than a dollar per gallon — all to fuel a state-run “shakedown” of the energy sector — in a letter addressed to Newsom and obtained by The California Globe.
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“The proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries, which will result in California losing the entire industry to this misguided program,” Chevron President Andy Walz wrote.
“This regulation will increase transportation and aviation fuel prices for consumers. It will risk significant job losses, including many high-paying union jobs, while reducing funding for essential public services,” he continued. “It will upend California’s fuels market and threaten critical energy and national security assets.”
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is aiming to make companies cleaner by aggressively lowering the cap on how much total pollution is allowed in the state. Specifically, the board is proposing to pull 118.3 million allowances out of the state’s market between 2027 and 2030 and has more recently increased its carbon reduction target to 90% by 2045.
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Chevron’s president wrote a strongly worded letter addressed to California Gov. Gavin Newsom over proposed energy regulations. (Getty Images)
Walz warns that the green energy agenda comes with a price tag for working families, writing that Chevron projections show a $1 increase per gallon of gas by 2030 and an estimated 536,770 industry jobs at risk.
California already has the highest gas prices in the nation, with the current state average listed at $4.81 per gallon, according to AAA. The national average, by comparison, is $3.25 as of March 4.
In some California counties, gas costs as much as $5.74 per gallon.
“These impacts will fall most heavily on lower-income households that spend a disproportionate share of income on transportation fuels, increasing costs without addressing the underlying driver of California’s gasoline prices,” Walz said. “Affordability is a top concern for California’s residents and Chevron, and these proposed amendments would only exacerbate the high cost of living in the state.”
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Walz frames this not only as a local issue but as a threat to the energy stability of the entire United States.
Exclusive: FOX Business correspondent Edward Lawrence has the latest on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s visit to Venezuela on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
“Refinery closures in California reduce fuel supply resilience on the West Coast, increasing risks to military readiness and national security,” Walz cautioned. “Maintaining a stable policy framework that supports continued operation of California refineries is therefore not only an economic and consumer affordability issue, but also a matter of broader energy security and national defense.”
CARB is also reportedly exempt from standard open-meeting rules, allowing it to manage billions of dollars in carbon auctions behind closed doors.
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“The California energy industry’s economic, industrial, environmental and national security benefits have been the foundation of a healthy, prosperous state and nation. Adversarial policies at local, regional and state levels have eroded that foundation,” Walz said.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss record oil production, rising dividends and the company’s long-term growth strategy.
“These proposed regulatory changes threaten to destroy it. Chevron urges policymakers and regulators to reconsider and revise the proposed regulation before it causes lasting and irreversible harm to California’s economy and energy security and broader vital American interests,” he concluded.
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Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call.
[Operator Instructions]
I would now like to turn the call over to Michelle Maggi, Vice President, Corporate Affairs. Please go ahead, Michelle.
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Michelle Maggi Vice President of Corporate Affairs
Thank you, Jonathan. Good day, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. We released this morning pre-market our earnings. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can find it on our website under the Investor Relations tab at ferrellgas.com.
With me today is Tamria Zertuche, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Nick Heimer, Ferrellgas’ Vice President and Corporate Controller. Today’s call includes prepared remarks where Tamria and Nick will go over our second quarter results for fiscal 2026, concluding with responses to previously submitted questions.
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Please note that this call may contain forward-looking statements as determined by federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release. As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.
In addition, please refer to the Form 8-K earnings release to find disclosures and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures that may be referenced
President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to reduce the federal government’s workforce were seemingly reflected in recently released data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The OPM’s data shows that the government’s civilian workforce shrank by 12% between September 2024 and January 2026, going from a headcount of 2,313,216 to 2,035,344.
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Separate data, also released by the OPM, shows that the majority of employees who left during that time did so voluntarily rather than being forced out, Reuters reported. The outlet also noted that administrative staff, customer service representatives and IT managers were at the top of the list of positions that left once Trump returned to office.
President Donald Trump smiles during a roundtable on the Ratepayer Protection Pledge in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on March 4, 2026. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
“Reshaping the federal workforce is essential to building a government that works for the American people, not the bureaucracy. By realigning roles, streamlining operations, and modernizing how agencies manage talent, we are strengthening performance and accountability across government. This effort ensures taxpayer dollars support a workforce that delivers efficient, responsive, and high-quality services,” OPM Director Scott Kupor told Fox Business.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump spoke about his desire to slash the government workforce through the creation of a new department, which would later be known as DOGE. The main backer of the idea, and the person who led the team until leaving the administration in May 2025, was billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
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Elon Musk during a news conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on May 30, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Musk championed the idea during his appearance at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden in late October, just days before the 2024 election.
“Your money is being wasted, and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that. We’re going to get the government off your back and out of your pocketbook,” he told the crowd.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order establishing DOGE as a temporary organization, giving it an expiration date of July 4, 2026. The order kicked off a temporary hiring freeze and the implementation of a hiring plan that restricted agencies to hiring one new employee for every four that departed.
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An aerial view of the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
