Shares in Novo Nordisk, one of Europe’s largest listed companies, slumped on Monday after the company said that one of its diabetes drugs had failed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in late-stage trials.
Data from two large-scale clinical trials studying the effectiveness of treating early Alzheimer’s with semaglutide did not show any significant improvement in the thousands of patients enrolled in the study, the company said.
Novo said the trials, which enrolled nearly 4,000 patients, did not “translate into a delay of disease progression” even as it “resulted in improvement of Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers”.
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The company’s shares fell almost 10 per cent on Monday.
The trial tested whether Novo’s older diabetes drug Rybelsus — which contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient as weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic — could lower the rate of cognitive decline in patients by at least 20 per cent.
All of the participants in the trial, which included patients from almost 40 countries, already had a build-up of amyloid protein on their brain scans, an early hallmark of Alzheimer’s.
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“Based on the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a number of indicative data points, we felt we had a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, despite a low likelihood of success,” said Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer and executive vice-president of research and development at Novo Nordisk.
Novo had hoped that semaglutide could be used to treat some of the 55mn people with dementia. But the group had always described the trials as a “lottery ticket”. Data from the trials failed to “confirm [the] superiority of semaglutide versus placebo”, the company said.
[ Novo Nordisk loses further ground in obesity marketOpens in new window ]
Novo has endured a tumultuous year, which has led to a boardroom clearout, while its share price has fallen about 60 per cent in the past 12 months.
Investors have questioned its strategy and raised concerns that it does not have a pipeline of potential blockbuster next-generation weight-loss drugs.
The Copenhagen-based group has fallen behind rival Eli Lilly, which last week became the first pharma company to reach a $1tn market capitalisation in the crucial US market.
Novo’s troubles have led to the ousting of Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen as chief executive in May. His replacement Mike Doustdar has been tasked with reviving the company.
Doustdar, whose bold approach has divided shareholders, this month lost a bruising takeover battle for Metsera, an obesity-focused biotech which will be bought by Pfizer instead.
Former Novo chief executive Lars Rebien Sørensen was appointed chair of its board in October, after the previous chair and six other directors stood down. - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
