Novo Nordisk Rises as Wegovy Is Approved in China [Video]

American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NVO) rose Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the company announced that its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved to start being sold in China.

The treatment for overweight and obese patients was approved “recently” by China’s National Medical Products Administration, according to a translation of a Chinese release from Novo Nordisk released Tuesday morning.

Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy have exploded in popularity over the last several years, boosting the company’s earnings and stock price to make it the most valuable company in Europe, while its U.S. competitor Eli Lilly (LLY) has seen similar growth thanks to its weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk said it held 76.6% of the GLP-1 market for treating diabetes in the mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan region as of last November, and said its 6.21 billion Danish kroner ($890.7 million) in 2023 sales …