Novo Nordisk shares jump on fresh trial results

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Shares in Novo Nordisk, one of Europe’s most valuable companies, jumped 10 per cent on Friday after the pharmaceutical group announced positive results from the latest trial of weight-loss treatments.

The early stage trial found that people treated with amycretin lost up to 22 per cent of their body weight after using the drug for 36 weeks.

Martin Lange, executive vice-president for development at Novo Nordisk, said the group was “very encouraged” by the results of the amycretin trial for people who are overweight or obese.

The shares rose 10 per cent to DKr636 on Friday.

The company is now planning further development of the drug, which targets two key hormones — GLP-1, which is targeted by the existing weight loss drugs, and amylin, which is believed to make people feel fuller. 

Novo Nordisk had already completed an early stage trial of a pill that uses this mechanism, which showed average weight loss of about 13 per cent of body weight after 12 weeks. The latest trial, which involved 125 people, tested an injected version.

The potential drug is still many years away from the market and will need to be tested on thousands of people to prove its efficacy.

Novo Nordisk’s shares have risen in recent years as investors bet on a strong future for its weight loss and diabetes treatments, which include Wegovy and Ozempic. They reached a peak of DKr1028 last summer but have fallen sharply since then.

Last month the price declined after disappointing results from late stage trials of CagriSema, another weight loss treatment, while earlier this month the shares were hit by fears that its drugs could face price cuts in the US.

The Danish drugmaker is competing against US rival Eli Lilly in the obesity drugs market. Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss treatment Zepbound offer a greater average weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.

Investors are looking to potential drugs in Novo Nordisk’s pipeline to see if they can beat the total weight loss of more than 22 per cent offered by Lilly’s treatments.