Jim Cramer Shares Key Caveat For Novo Nordisk (NVO)'s Weight Loss Pill

We recently published 10 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar.  Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is one of the stocks on Jim Cramer's radar.

Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) scored a major win earlier this month after it secured the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval for its weight loss pill. The approval made the Wegovy pill the first of its kind, and it led to the firm’s shares closing 7.30% higher. The approval marked a key win for Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) as the firm has reportedly struggled against Eli Lilly in the weight loss drug market. Following the Wegovy pill approval, the pharmaceutical company moved fast, as a report from the Chinese outlet Yicai suggested that Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) had cut the prices of its highest dosage Wegovy drugs in half in some Chinese provinces. After the approval, BMO Capital reiterated a Market Perform rating and a $46 share price target for the company. The financial firm outlined that Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) could benefit from a first-mover advantage in the oral weight loss drug market and added that it could face competitive challenges in the future. Cramer shared his own unique take on the matter, as he commented that Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) might see resistance from physicians when it comes to taking away market share from Eli Lilly:

“Now, remember, that a pill is much preferred in the country, versus the shot. If you are taking Wegovy, then people will move over, quickly migrate over to Wegovy pill. . .let’s say you are taking Mounjaro right now, Eli Lilly, they are reluctant to say listen you should go do Wegovy. Because what they’ll say is listen, you tolerate Mounjaro, and we just care about toleration. And that’s been the way things go. And I think people who think, wow, there are people who are going to be really excited to move over to the pill. Their advice from the doctors is going to be, no, there could be different reactions. And apparently the doses are so high, that there are some different changes in diet that you might have to do. We don’t know enough about what the side effects are, we know this. The profession just doesn’t like you to switch from one drug to another.

“I think that there are a lot of people who are scared to give themselves a shot. A lot of people who think the shot hurts. You have to take the shot every once a week. So I think, yeah it’s a big win, I didn’t see it, my charitable trust owns Eli Lilly, and I think three months from now we say, okay, Lilly’s in the market but, last night I’m doing Mad Money and I’m saying, oh jeez, this isn’t supposed to happen. Because I didn’t want to see, I knew that for our trust that Eli Lilly would be down, I don’t think it should be down . . .

“Anytime you have to put something in cold, although once you take it out,a  lot of these drugs, once you take it out, you’re okay, but you gotta keep it refrigerated. People don’t like that. People really have a shorter term. . .people stop after 13 months, on the shot, they just don’t like it. And this is going to be much longer. That’s something David Ricks has talked about, the CEO of Lilly. He’s told me, when he’s come on Mad Money, don’t forget,  the people just, they stop taking it. And one of the reasons they stop taking it, is because, wow I don’t want to take a shot anymore. And they also say, listen I’m thin, so I’m fine. Completely untrue, these are lifetime drugs.”

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.