The Novo Nordisk A/S headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025.
Nichlas Pollier | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Shares of Novo Nordisk on Monday fell to a four-year low after the Danish drug pharmaceutical firm stated a highly-anticipated trial for Alzheimer’s illness failed to fulfill its foremost purpose.
The trial examined whether or not semaglutide — the energetic ingredient in Novo’s blockbuster diabetes and weight reduction medication Ozempic and Wegovy — helped sluggish development for Alzheimer’s illness.
Whereas remedy with semaglutide resulted in enchancment of Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers in two separate trials, this didn’t translate right into a delay of illness development, Novo stated in an announcement Monday. The purpose had been to sluggish affected person’s cognitive decline by at the very least 20%.
Novo inventory was down 8.3% to 279 Danish kroner as of 12:15 a.m. GMT (7:15 a.m. ET), it is lowest degree since July 2021. Shares of Eli Lilly additionally fell about 1% whereas Biogen inventory rose 5% in premarket commerce.
Analysts had previous to the outcomes known as the trials a protracted shot, whereas Novo itself had referred it as a “lottery ticket.”
“Based mostly on the numerous unmet want in Alzheimer’s illness in addition to quite a few indicative information factors, we felt we had a accountability to discover semaglutide’s potential, regardless of a low chance of success,” stated Novo’s Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange.
Alzheimer’s illness, the most typical type of dementia, is notoriously troublesome to deal with. It is usually anticipated to have an effect on an growing proportion of individuals worldwide as populations get older.
Present therapies resembling Eli Lilly’s Kisunla and Biogen/Eisai’s Leqembi have proven to decelerate the development of the illness by as much as a 3rd, however include the chance of extreme side-effects.
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