A Novo Nordisk sign outside Novo Nordisk’s offices in Bagsvaard, outside Copenhagen, Denmark, July 14, 2025.
Tom Little | Reuters
Shares in Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk fell to a four-year low on Monday after the company announced that its highly anticipated Alzheimer’s disease trial had failed to meet key targets.
The trial tested whether semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo’s blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wigovy, can help slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
In two separate trials, treatment with semaglutide showed improvements in Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers, but this did not lead to a delay in disease progression, Professor Novo said in a statement on Monday. The goal was to slow cognitive decline in patients by at least 20%.
As of 1:30 p.m. London time (8:30 a.m. ET), Novo shares were down 10% to 274 Danish kroner ($42.33), the lowest since mid-2021.
Analysts had called the trial a longshot before the results came in, while Novo itself called it a “lottery.”
“Based on the important unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease and the many suggestive data points, we felt a responsibility to explore the potential of semaglutide, despite the low chances of success,” said Martin Horst Lange, Novo’s chief scientific officer.
long shot
The test results are a setback for Novo investors who had hoped the company’s tattered stock price would reignite. Even before Monday’s announcement, Novo’s share price had halved since the beginning of the year, due to a series of guidance cuts and increased competition, particularly in the key U.S. market.
“While expectations were not high for the positive outlook, the chances of success are probably in the cards, and this result eliminates short-term upside scenarios,” Jefferies analysts said Monday.
Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is notoriously difficult to treat. Additionally, as the population ages, the proportion of people affected worldwide is expected to increase.
Current treatments, such as Eli Lilly’s Kisunra and Biogen/Eisai’s Rekenbi, have been shown to slow disease progression by up to a third, but come with the risk of serious side effects. shares of Eli Lilly falling slightly biogen Shares rose nearly 3% in early U.S. trading.
Novo’s decision to test Libersus, an oral form of semaglutide, was based primarily on real-world evidence suggesting a correlation between Alzheimer’s disease and taking semaglutide.
The drug works similarly to Lilly’s rival drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound by mimicking the gut hormone GLP-1, which occurs naturally in the body, regulating blood sugar levels and increasing satiety. It is not yet clear what effect GLP-1 has on Alzheimer’s patients, but the theory is that GLP-1 targets the neuroinflammation that is thought to affect Alzheimer’s patients.
Novo said top-line results will be presented at the Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials Conference on Dec. 3, and full results will be presented at the 2026 Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease Conference in March.
competitive market
Novo Nordisk’s stock price has plummeted over the past 18 months, while rival Eli Lilly just last week became the first drug company with a market capitalization of $1 trillion.
Ozempic was introduced to the market four years earlier than Munharo, but despite Novo’s head start, Lilly was quickly able to capture a larger market share in the United States.
Novo has lowered its guidance several times this year, criticizing so-called formulators who sell knock-off versions of semaglutide at low prices.
Novo recently replaced its chairman and half of its board of directors, citing disagreements between the previous board and Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo’s controlling shareholder, over the scope and pace of change needed. This comes just months after former CEO Lars Fluergaard Jorgensen was fired after an eight-year reign due to a falling stock price.
New chairman Lars Levien Sorensen said at the time that the previous board “recognized too late the importance of changes in the U.S. market.”
New CEO Mike Doesder, who previously led Novo’s U.S. operations, immediately set out to refocus the company’s commercial priorities on its core obesity and diabetes business and cut more than 10% of its global workforce.
