NEW YORK, Jan 9, 2026, 07:03 EST — Premarket
Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-listed shares gained 1.4% to $57.34 in premarket trading on Friday after the company rejected claims involving SaveRxCanada.to, a Canadian online pharmacy platform that says it offers India-sourced Ozempic to U.S. patients. SaveRxCanada.to said the pens start at about $280 each, compared with typical U.S. retail prices of $900 to $1,100. A Novo spokesperson said: “We have no customer or partner relationship with this company/platform, and Ozempic from India has not been provided to them.” (Reuters)
The spat comes at an awkward time for drugmakers, with pricing back in the political crosshairs and investors bracing for tougher talks abroad after U.S. price-cut deals struck last year under pressure from President Donald Trump. “You can’t force the Europeans to just all of a sudden spend more,” Marshall Gordon, senior research analyst for healthcare at ClearBridge Investments, told Reuters, as attention shifts to the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference starting Jan. 12.
It also throws a spotlight on demand for GLP-1 drugs — short for glucagon-like peptide-1 — a class of medicines that lowers blood sugar and can reduce appetite, but often comes with steep out-of-pocket costs in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s BeSafeRx campaign tells consumers to learn warning signs for unsafe online pharmacies and provides tools for reporting suspect sites.
Broader markets were cautious heading into the opening bell, with U.S. stock index futures muted ahead of a closely watched nonfarm payrolls report and a Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s tariffs. Economists polled by Reuters expect payrolls to have risen by 60,000 in December, with the jobless rate seen edging down to 4.5%.
For Novo, attention in the near term remains on pricing and access in its biggest market — and on whether cheaper channels start eating into the premium the company has long commanded for its GLP-1 franchise.
There’s a downside scenario, though: regulators might step up scrutiny of cross-border and online sales, or headline risk could spark another wave of pressure on manufacturers to widen discounts — at a time when competition in obesity treatment is still intense.
Investors’ next checkpoint is Novo’s full-year results on Feb. 4, when they’ll be watching for an update on 2026 guidance and any new detail on pricing, supply and U.S. demand. (Novo Nordisk)
