Novo Reports 25 Percent Weight Loss With CagriSema in Women

Novo Nordisk said Tuesday, October 20, 2026, that its experimental obesity drug CagriSema produced average weight loss of 25% after 68 weeks among adult women with obesity or overweight. The Danish pharmaceutical company reported the findings from a post-trial analysis, adding evidence about the injection's potential effectiveness compared with existing treatments.

The analysis covered approximately 2,300 women and compared CagriSema with a placebo, which produced average weight loss of 3%. The 25% result reflects a scenario in which all participants remained on treatment without interruptions, Novo said.

A separate analysis involving around 1,900 women examined outcomes according to menopausal status. Average weight loss reached 26.7% among premenopausal women, 24.8% among perimenopausal women and 23.1% among postmenopausal women after 68 weeks, assuming continuous treatment. Placebo participants lost approximately 2% across the three groups.

Novo also reported reductions in abdominal fat, measured through waist circumference, among women overall and across menopause stages. The company cautioned that further research is needed to confirm the hypotheses generated by both post-study analyses.

CagriSema combines semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo's obesity treatment Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic, with cagrilintide, which targets the amylin pathway. Amylin is a hormone released by the pancreas alongside insulin that helps regulate hunger and feelings of fullness.

The experimental injection is expected to launch early next year. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have both pursued treatments targeting amylin as they seek to expand their obesity drug portfolios beyond existing GLP-1 medicines.

In the broader phase 3 trial, CagriSema helped adults lose an average of 22.7% of their body weight after 68 weeks, compared with 2.3% among placebo recipients. Approximately 67% of the roughly 3,400 participants were women, according to the initial results.

The new analyses suggest that weight loss among women taking CagriSema could be slightly greater than the average recorded across the full trial population. However, the findings come from additional analyses conducted after the main clinical study rather than separate confirmatory trials.

Michelle Skinner Moore, Novo's interim head of clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs, said the company wanted to examine the treatment's effects across different stages of women's reproductive lives.

"Many women with obesity or overweight experience weight gain as they move through menopause, and it is important to explore investigational products such as CagriSema across the reproductive lifespan," said Michelle Skinner Moore, Novo's interim head of clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs.

Menopause can contribute to weight gain as declining estrogen levels affect metabolism and make maintaining muscle mass more difficult. Estrogen levels generally remain low after menopause, according to the article's background information.

More than 86 million women in the United States are age 40 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This age range includes the years when perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause typically occur.

Investor expectations for CagriSema have been tempered by earlier late-stage trial results that showed less weight loss than anticipated. Novo maintains that the drug can offer sufficient effectiveness and differentiation from its existing treatments to attract substantial demand.

Analysts expect CagriSema to generate $11.84 billion in obesity-treatment sales in 2028, according to a consensus estimate compiled by FactSet.