Novo Nordisk shares fall after Alzheimer’s drug trial fails to meet target
A view shows a Novo Nordisk sign in front of its office in Bagsvaerd, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, on July 14, 2025.
Tom Little | Reuters
Novo Nordisk shares fell to a four-year low on Monday after the Danish pharmaceutical company said a highly anticipated study into Alzheimer’s disease failed to meet its main goal.
The study tested whether semaglutide – the active ingredient in Novo’s blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy – helps slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
While treatment with semaglutide led to improvements in biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s disease in two separate studies, it did not result in a delay in disease progression, Novo said in a statement on Monday. The goal was to slow the patients’ cognitive decline by at least 20%.
Novo shares fell 10% in afternoon trading to 274 Danish crowns ($42.33), their lowest level since mid-2021. Shares later regained some ground, tentatively closing the session down 5.8%.
Before the results, analysts had described the process as a failed attempt, while Novo itself had spoken of a “lottery ticket”.
“Due to the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease and a number of indicative data points, we felt a responsibility to explore the potential of semaglutide, even though the prospects of success are low,” said Martin Holst Lange, Chief Scientific Officer of Novo.
A long attempt
The test results are a setback for Novo investors, who had hoped they would boost the company’s battered stock price. Even before Monday’s release, Novo shares had halved year to date due to a series of forecast cuts and increased competition, particularly in the important US market.
“Although hopes for a positive outcome were not high, the potential success may have had some in its name, and this result removed a near-term upside scenario,” analysts at Jefferies wrote on Monday.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is notoriously difficult to treat. It is also expected to affect an increasing proportion of people worldwide as the population ages.
Current treatments such as Eli Lilly’s Kisunla and Biogen/Eisai’s Leqembi have been shown to slow disease progression by up to a third, but carry the risk of serious side effects. Shares of Eli Lilly was trading nearly 0.8% higher at the closing bell in London on Monday Biogenic The stock rose 2.6%.
Novo’s decision to test Rybelsus, an oral form of semaglutide, was based largely on real-world evidence suggesting a link between Alzheimer’s disease and semaglutide use.
The drug works in a similar way to Lilly’s competing drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound by mimicking the gut hormone GLP-1, which occurs naturally in the body, to regulate blood sugar levels and increase feelings of satiety. It’s not yet clear what benefit GLP-1 might have for Alzheimer’s patients, but the theory is that it targets the neuroinflammation that is thought to affect them.
Key results will be presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference on December 3, with full results presented at the 2026 Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Conference in March, Novo said.
A competitive market
While Novo Nordisk’s shares have plummeted over the past 18 months, rival Eli Lilly became the first pharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of $1 trillion just last week.
Although Ozempic launched four years before Mounjaro, Novo’s lead didn’t stop Lilly from quickly capturing a larger market share in the United States
This year, Novo has cut its forecast several times, blaming so-called compounders that sell copycat versions of semaglutide at a cheaper price.
Novo recently replaced its chairman and half of its board members because of disagreements between the former board and Novo’s majority shareholder, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, over the scope and pace of change needed. This came just months after former CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen was fired following an eight-year tenure due to the stock decline.
The previous board was “too slow to recognize the importance of market changes in the United States,” new chairman Lars Rebien Sørensen said at the time.
New CEO Mike Doustdar, who previously led Novo’s operations outside the U.S., quickly moved to focus the company’s business priorities on its core obesity and diabetes businesses and cut more than 10% of its global workforce.
