[delayed]

They’ve been rewarded enough (~$14.65B USD net profit 2024), and are lucky they’re allowed to capture any further economic benefit from the sale of a simple compound (imho).

... a simple compound that was already developed and in-use, so the current patent (the one that's made it a big, ongoing news story and a kind of social phenomenon) is rewarding only going through the approval process for using it for weight loss, specifically, not development of a new drug.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaglutide

> In the 1970s, Jens Juul Holst and Joel Habener began research on the GLP-1 hormone [...] Research continued, and in 1993, Michael Nauck managed to infuse GLP-1 into people with type 2 diabetes, stimulating insulin while inhibiting glucagon and bringing blood glucose to normal levels. However, treating diabetes patients with GLP-1 hormones resulted in significant side effects, leading researchers financed by Novo Nordisk to start looking to develop a suitable compound for therapeutic use. In 1998, a team of researchers at Novo Nordisk led by the scientist Lotte Bjerre Knudsen developed liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist that could be used to treat diabetes.

GLP-1 is a hormone that naturally occurs in the human body. Novo Nordisk was responsible for turning it into a diabetes medication. They were responsible for turning it into a weight loss medication.

Where are you getting your facts from?

A huge chunk of Novo losing it's valuation is the fact that Eli Lilly is absolutely destroying them on the next generations of these. Tirzepatide is better than Semaglutide, and Retatrutide is better than Tirzepatide. Mazdutide looks to be a particularly good fit for Asia for a variety of reasons. And from Novo, Cagrilintide/CagriSema look to be a bust. Rybelsus is a bust.

Other "newcomers" in the GLP-1 space are also showing more promise than what Novo has in the pipeline. Boehringer Ingelheim has Survodutide in the pipeline as well, along with plenty of others.

They're the least interesting game in town when it comes to the incretin mimetics at this point.

I always thought penicillin is the most successful and helpful drug. As well as vaccines against deadly diseases.

Can't argue with that.