Novo Nordisk (NVO) Shares Slide in Premarket After Phase 3 Alzheimer’s Trials Fall Short

Novo Nordisk A/S shares plunged nearly 10% in premarket trading on Monday, November 24, 2025, after the Danish pharmaceutical giant announced that its phase 3 clinical trials for an Alzheimer’s disease treatment failed to meet primary endpoints. The stock dropped to $43.01 in premarket trading at 6:53 AM EST, down $4.64 or 9.73% from the previous close of $47.63.

The setback represents another challenge for Novo Nordisk in 2025, a year in which the company’s shares have already declined more than 50% amid intensifying competition in the weight-loss drug market, which serves as the company’s primary revenue driver.

Phase 3 Data Shows No Clinical Benefit From Semaglutide

The EVOKE and EVOKE+ phase 3 trials, which enrolled a combined 3,808 adults with early-stage symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, evaluated oral semaglutide against placebo over a two-year primary analysis period. The trials failed to confirm superiority of semaglutide in reducing progression of Alzheimer’s disease as measured by the Clinical Dementia Rating – Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) score compared to baseline.

While semaglutide treatment resulted in improvements in Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers in both trials, these biomarker changes did not translate into a meaningful delay in disease progression for patients.

Based on these efficacy results, Novo Nordisk announced it will discontinue the planned one-year extension period in both trials. The company pursued the Alzheimer’s indication with semaglutide based on real-world evidence studies, pre-clinical models, and post-hoc analyses from diabetes and obesity trials. Topline results will be presented at the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference on December 3, 2025, with full results scheduled for the 2026 Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases Conferences in March 2026.

Martin Holst Lange, Novo Nordisk’s chief scientific officer, acknowledged that while the company felt a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential given the significant unmet need in Alzheimer’s disease, the drug did not demonstrate efficacy in this indication despite a rigorous research methodology.

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NVO Extends Steep 2025 Declines Amid Competitive Pressures

The premarket decline extends Novo Nordisk’s challenging year, with the stock having lost over 50% of its value year-to-date as of November 21, 2025. The company’s market capitalization stood at $211.64 billion at the previous close, with key valuation metrics including a trailing P/E ratio of 13.22 and a forward P/E of 12.02.

Analyst consensus remains mixed, with an average price target of $56.11, representing potential upside from current levels, though the range spans from a low of $42.86 to a high of $70.04. The latest analyst rating from BMO Capital on October 14, 2025, maintained a Market Perform rating while raising the price target from $50 to $55.

The Alzheimer’s trial failure adds to mounting pressures on Novo Nordisk as it faces intensifying competition in the weight-loss drug market from competitors like Eli Lilly, which recently became the first pharmaceutical company to reach a $1 trillion market valuation. Novo Nordisk’s core products include semaglutide marketed as Ozempic and Rybelsus for type 2 diabetes treatment, and Wegovy for chronic weight management.

The company emphasized that semaglutide appeared to have a safe and well-tolerated profile consistent with previous trials, with more than 37 million patient-years of exposure across diverse patient populations, suggesting the setback is limited to efficacy rather than safety concerns.

Disclaimer: The author does not hold or have a position in any securities discussed in the article. All stock prices were quoted at the time of writing.