The Danish drugmaker is paying $300 million upfront for global rights to HRS-1596, an experimental weight-loss treatment from China's Hengrui. The licensing agreement has a total potential value of $2.6 billion, granting Novo Nordisk access to a new obesity pill to broaden its portfolio of metabolic drugs.

The move is an effort to diversify the company's pipeline and rebuild investor confidence. Novo Nordisk current growth is heavily tied to the commercial success of its blockbusters, Ozempic and Wegovy, and seeks to establish new growth drivers to reduce this reliance.