Novo Nordisk has announced that trials of its oral semaglutide drug for Alzheimer’s disease have failed to demonstrate a slowing of the disease’s progression. The announcement led to a slide in the company’s shares. The trials, which Novo Nordisk previously described as a high-risk venture, were designed to assess the medicine’s potential to slow cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer’s.
The unsuccessful trial dashes hopes that Alzheimer’s could become a significant new market for GLP-1 medicines like semaglutide. Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company, focusing on diabetes and obesity treatments. It faces increasing competition in its primary treatment areas, making the potential expansion into Alzheimer’s a key area of interest.
According to Erik Berg-Johnsen, a portfolio manager at Storebrand Asset Management, the trial’s discontinuation after two years, despite plans for a third-year extension, indicates that semaglutide offers little to no benefit in slowing Alzheimer’s progression. The trial was closely monitored as an indicator of whether GLP-1 drugs, widely used for diabetes and weight loss, could potentially slow the advancement of the disease.
The drug used in the trial was Rybelsus, an oral medication approved for type 2 diabetes. Rybelsus, along with Novo Nordisk’s popular drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, contains semaglutide. Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia affect more than 55 million people globally, and currently, there is no cure for the condition.
