Novo Nordisk Drug Helps Patients Lose Weight, Lower Blood Sugar in Trial — Update

By Adria Calatayud

Novo Nordisk said a weight-loss drug candidate helped patients lose weight and reduce blood-sugar levels in pill and injection forms during a mid-stage trial, lifting shares in the company.

The Danish drugmaker is working to line up potential successors to its Wegovy and Ozempic blockbuster drugs for obesity and diabetes as it seeks to turn a page on a challenging year that saw the company reshuffle its leadership ranks and board, cut jobs and lose a bidding war with Pfizer for obesity-drug startup Metsera.

Novo Nordisk is trying to defend its position in the market for weight-loss treatments it helped pioneer after supply issues, rival products from Eli Lilly, and pharmacies making alternative, lower-cost versions of the drugs eroded its lead.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk earlier this month agreed to cut prices for their popular weight-loss drugs in the U.S. in deals with the Trump administration that are set to broaden coverage through the Medicare and Medicaid health-insurance programs.

Novo Nordisk said Tuesday that a mid-stage trial for an experimental drug called amycretin in people with type 2 diabetes achieved positive results, showing significant reductions in both weight and blood sugar.

Shares in Novo Nordisk climbed as much as 4.8% in European afternoon trade before pulling back, recouping part of the losses the stock logged Monday after the company reported results of a separate trial in Alzheimer's disease that failed.

Some analysts see Novo Nordisk's amycretin as the most promising asset in its pipeline after another experimental treatment that the company hoped would be its next big weight-loss product, CagriSema, achieved weaker-than-expected results in a trial late last year.

Amycretin mimics the same gut hormone as the Wegovy treatment to suppress appetite, called GLP-1, but combines it with amylin, a hormone in the pancreas that also regulates appetite. Lilly and Metsera, among other companies, are also developing drugs targeting amylin.

The trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of amycretin taken as a once-weekly subcutaneous injection and once-daily oral treatment in 448 people with type 2 diabetes, Novo Nordisk said. The company had already released weight-loss data on amycretin, but this trial marked the first time the drug was tested in people with type 2 diabetes, it added.

"The data further validate the potential best-in-class profile of amycretin," said Martin Holst Lange, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of Research and Development at Novo Nordisk.

Patients who took the drug in injection form experienced weight loss of up to 14.5% after 36 weeks, compared with 2.6% for those on placebo, Novo Nordisk said. Those who took an oral version of the medicine shed up to 10.1% of their weight, which compares with 2.5% in people treated with placebo, it added.

Meanwhile, 89.1% of patients on the shot saw their blood sugar go down to levels for which diabetes is considered well controlled. Among those on the pill, the proportion was 77.6%, the company said.

Novo Nordisk said both formulations of amycretin appeared to have a safe and well-tolerated profile that was consistent with similar therapies.

The company plans late-stage trials for amycretin across several indications, including type 2 diabetes, next year, it said.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2025 09:57 ET (14:57 GMT)