Novo Nordisk paid up to $1 billion for Inversago, then ended its monlunabant program
Novo Nordisk's up-to-$1 billion purchase of Inversago brought a CB1 drug candidate, monlunabant, that the company later ended, leaving patients with no new medicine from the deal.
Novo Nordisk agreed on Aug. 10, 2023, to buy Inversago Pharma, a Montreal drug developer, for up to $1 billion [1]. The purchase brought the Danish company a CB1 receptor program that became monlunabant, an experimental medicine Novo Nordisk terminated in 2026 [1].
The agreement was valued at "up to" $1 billion, a structure that ties part of the price to future goals rather than paying the full amount at closing [1]. How much Novo Nordisk paid upfront, and the size of any later payments, have not been disclosed [1]. Inversago was based in Montreal [1].
Novo Nordisk is a Danish pharmaceutical company based in Bagsværd, near Copenhagen, that focuses mainly on diabetes and obesity medicines [1]. Its net sales in 2024 were US$42.121 billion, and in 2023 its market value grew larger than the entire economy of Denmark [1]. The products the company markets include Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda, Victoza, Tresiba, Levemir, NovoRapid and Fiasp [1]. Monlunabant was not among them [1].
Novo Nordisk ended the monlunabant program in 2026 [1]. The reason has not been reported. The company also has not said what happened to the rest of the CB1 receptor work it acquired, whether other compounds from Inversago remain in development, or whether patients were enrolled in monlunabant studies when the program stopped.
The Inversago purchase added a drug candidate that was not a semaglutide product [1]. Ozempic and Wegovy, both semaglutide, are Novo Nordisk's best-known medicines [1]. A program bought for up to $1 billion and closed within about three years shows how uncertain that kind of pipeline bet can be.
Why it matters for patients
Monlunabant was an experimental drug, never listed among the company's marketed products [1]. People taking semaglutide medicines such as Ozempic and Wegovy are on drugs that were already approved and are listed as products the company sells [1]. The end of the Inversago program does not change what is available at the pharmacy.
The larger question is what a termination like this says about the next group of diabetes and obesity treatments. Novo Nordisk built its current business on semaglutide [1]. Each candidate that is dropped narrows the set of experimental alternatives that could reach patients later, including patients who do not do well on existing GLP-1 medicines.
What happened to people in monlunabant trials has not been reported. Novo Nordisk has not disclosed whether any studies were still enrolling, how many participants were involved, or what follow-up they received. Whether any of them saw benefit or side effects from the drug has not been reported either.
What happens next
No further milestones for monlunabant have been announced since the program ended in 2026 [1]. Novo Nordisk continues to market Ozempic and Wegovy [1] and reported net sales of US$42.121 billion in 2024 [1]. Whether the company will develop another CB1 receptor drug has not been reported.
Sources
Semaglutides.org provides information only, not medical advice. Talk to a licensed provider about your own care before making changes. Some telehealth links are affiliate links and are labeled where they appear.