Seemingly, Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) cannot put a foot wrong at the moment as it gained another $14.5bn in market value on Monday. A kingpin in big pharma, the company saw its stocks rise by as much as 4.3% on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (CSE).
Novo Nordisk shares riding high on success of Wegovy
This bullish stock performance follows on the heels of a key study that found Wegovy, the Novo Nordisk weight loss drug, reduces cardiac risks and related mortalities in obese people. Those involved in the study took the highest dose of the drug and consequently experienced a drop in blood sugar and inflammation, two of the portents of cardiac diseases.
Novo Nordisk shares gained roughly 52% this year, bringing its market valuation to more than $490bn. In October, the company stopped its Ozempic kidney trials early on the back of conclusive evidence that it aids kidney failure patients.
The company presented the positive Wegovy findings on Saturday in the United States. This follows the release of preliminary data in August from a larger study, which caused a 17% surge in Novo Nordisk shares.
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The August results indicated patients on Wegovy lose approximately 15% of weight and reduced heart attacks, strokes, and deaths directly related to cardiac conditions by 20%. As with Ozempic, semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy.
Reuters reported that Markus Manns, a portfolio manager at Union Investment Germany, said these early cardiovascular benefits could be a significant determiner in the bid against competitors such as Amgen (AMGN.O) and Pfizer (PFE.N).
