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Posted on 11/28/2025 3:22:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
Ozempic medicine prescription with shot sitting on top of the box and measuring tape wrapped around the box Novo Nordisk’s headquarters is in Bagsværd, Denmark, which is where the company announced the failed Alzheimer’s trial for semaglutide. Credit: mikeledray / Shutterstock
Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker behind weight‑loss and diabetes giants like Ozempic and Rybelsus, announced on November 24 that its much‑anticipated Alzheimer’s trials failed to slow cognitive decline – a major blow to hopes that its GLP‑1 drugs could break into neurodegenerative disease treatment.
Two large trials, one disappointing outcome
The EVOKE and EVOKE+ Phase III trials, which enrolled a total of 3,808 adults aged 55 to 85 with early-stage symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, were designed to test whether daily oral semaglutide could slow disease progression compared with a placebo.
According to Novo Nordisk, the trials did not demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in Alzheimer’s progression, as measured by the Clinical Dementia Rating – Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) score over two years. While treatment reportedly produced some improvements in Alzheimer’s-related biomarkers, those did not translate into a measurable clinical benefit.
The new EU digital ID is coming - And it will transform daily life in Spain As a result, the company said it will discontinue the planned one-year extension period for both studies. Full data are expected to be presented at the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) conference in December 2025, with a more comprehensive disclosure due at the Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases (AD/PD) conference in March 2026.
“Based on the significant unmet need … we felt we had a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, despite a low likelihood of success,” said Martin Holst Lange, Chief Scientific Officer at Novo Nordisk. “We are proud to have conducted two well-controlled phase 3 trials … that meet the highest standards of research and rigorous methodology.”
Market reaction & industry implications
The negative outcome triggered a sharp reaction in markets. Novo Nordisk shares dropped more than 12% after the announcement, reflecting widespread investor disappointment for what had been seen as a possible expansion of its business beyond diabetes and obesity.
Analysts had long seen the Alzheimer’s trials as high risk. As one portfolio manager said: “The fact that the study was discontinued after two years, despite a planned third‑year extension, suggests that semaglutide offers virtually no benefit in slowing Alzheimer’s progression.”
The failure diminishes hopes that GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide could offer a new treatment path for Alzheimer’s, a condition that affects tens of millions worldwide and lacks widely effective therapies.
What now for Novo – and for Alzheimer’s research? Novo Nordisk’s public statement underscored that while the Alzheimer’s indication did not succeed, semaglutide remains effective and approved for type-2 diabetes and obesity – uses supported by decades of data and more than 37 million patient‑years of exposure.
For the Alzheimer’s field in general, the results help as a reminder of the challenge in translating metabolic or biomarker changes into meaningful overall outcomes. Researchers and companies are able to continue to explore other pathways – even combination therapies – but the “GLP-1 as Alzheimer’s cure” narrative has taken unfortunately taken a hit.
As Novo prepares to present the full data in coming months, attention will shift to what deeper analysis might reveal – and whether any subgroups showed benefit. For now, though, the semaglutide bets on Alzheimer’s has come up empty.
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Ping
How much did Novo Nordisk have to spend on this failed trial?
Now, if it had succeeded, how much MORE do they have to spend to get it approved and produced for Alzheimer’s patients?
Finally how much would it cost for a patient so that companies like Novo Nordisk can recoup their cost?
Weird. I know there’s a theory that Alzheimer’s might be diabetes type 3 but you’d think other types of diabetes treatments would’ve already been tried and failed. I wonder if they thought there was some other aspect that it would impact.
They’re trying to make it up in volume...
Off label uses for drugs are common. Sometimes they develop spontaneously as people using them for X report apparent side benefits. Anecdotal reports pile up, an informal market develops, and the researchers move in, if only because they have to get it approved for Y to eventually get something eligible for insurance coverage.
How did the researchers get interested in this case? Anecdotal reports (which apparently aren’t standing up to scrutiny)? Or some analytical, research driven chain of exploring a possibly promising class of drugs?
If there’s a research driven lead, one reason for looking at something like Ozempic is simply that the research on side effects is already developed. And the production base is preexisting. That’s a big shortcut.
Better off trying coconut oil and dmso, from what I have read.
“How much did Novo Nordisk have to spend on this failed trial?”
Perhaps nothing. I know a guy in Venture Capital, he’s a bio-scientist. Gets sent to places like Novo to see if the Big Wallets want put up front money for the research and approval process in return for a piece of the drug profits. He threw out $20mm as a typical buy-in. Some never get approved, those are losses.
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