COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Shares in Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, maker of diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, plunged on Friday after it announced disappointing results of a new drug study.

The drugmaker said clinical trials had demonstrated that overweight subjects using the weight-loss drug Cagrisema had lost an average of 22.7 per cent of their weight over the 68-week trial, compared to 2.3 per cent for those using a placebo.

The result fell short of the 25 per cent Novo Nordisk had expected for the drug, sending shares down over 22 per cent following the announcement.

The trial included 3,417 overweight or obese people with one or more comorbidities.

Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement that the company was “encouraged” by the results.

He added that with the insights from the trial, “we plan to further explore the additional weight loss potential of Cagrisema”.

In November, the drugmaker posted a 21 per cent rise in net profit to 27.3 billion kroner (US$3.85 billion) for the July-to-September period, but lamented capacity limitations at its production sites.

Sales of Wegovy, which has been approved for use to treat obesity in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and the United States, rose by 42 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

Sales of Ozempic — an injectable anti-diabetic treatment which has become popular for its slimming properties — soared by 54 per cent in the same period.

Novo Nordisk has a hold on 74 per cent of the market for weight-loss treatments.

The World Obesity Federation predicts that by 2035, over half of the world’s population will be overweight or obese and the global economic impact could then exceed US$4 trillion a year.