Novo Nordisk Invests Billions in Buybacks While Expanding Heart-Disease Evidence

Novo Nordisk repurchases DKK 4.47bn in shares amid 38% stock drop, unveils POSEIDON study on residual inflammatory risk, and reports Q1 sales dip excluding one-offs.

The Danish drugmaker is pouring DKK 4.47bn into its own stock at a time when it expects sales and profits to shrink, and has just unveiled a broad new study that shifts the focus from weight-loss drugs to cardiovascular inflammation. Both moves underscore a company trying to steady investor nerves ahead of a critical pipeline event in June.

Since February, Novo Nordisk has repurchased 17 million B-shares at an average price of roughly DKK 262 each. That represents nearly one-third of a DKK 15bn buyback programme set to run until February 2027. The first tranche, which ended on 4 May, accounted for 14.8 million shares worth DKK 3.8bn; a second tranche, launched two days later, had already added 1.2 million shares by mid-May. The dual purpose is to shrink the capital base and cover obligations from share-option plans.

Yet the share price remains under heavy pressure. At around €38 on Tuesday, Novo Nordisk’s stock was down 1.5% on the day and roughly 38% below its 52-week high of €70. The secondary source put the price at €38.44, a 0.5% daily drop and a 45% peak-to-current slide. The discrepancy reflects intraday moves, but the trajectory is identical: the equity has lost more than a third of its value over the past year.

A new data point from Athens

Away from the GLP-1 earnings debate, Novo Nordisk presented the POSEIDON study at the European Atherosclerosis Congress in Athens. The observational analysis tracked nearly 19,000 patients in 18 countries between 2023 and 2025, making it one of the largest global investigations of cardiovascular inflammation in high-risk populations. The headline finding: two out of five patients with atherosclerotic heart disease and chronic kidney disease, and the same proportion of heart-failure patients, showed elevated inflammation despite receiving guideline-directed standard therapy.

Novo measured inflammation using high-sensitivity C-reactive protein at a threshold of ?2 mg/L, a marker linked to increased risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death. The company’s message is that even optimised standard care cannot fully eliminate this residual inflammatory risk. For investors, the data are less a near-term revenue driver than a piece of strategic positioning: Novo wants to be seen as a player across cardiometabolic medicine — obesity, diabetes, kidney disease and heart failure — not solely as a weight-loss champion.

First-quarter results confirm the pricing squeeze

The operational reality, however, is dominated by GLP-1 pricing. In the first quarter of 2026, reported sales rose 32% at constant exchange rates, but that was largely flattered by a one-off reversal linked to the US 340B drug-pricing programme. Stripping that out, sales fell 4%, while the obesity segment alone climbed 22% on an adjusted basis. Adjusted operating profit dropped 6% to around DKK 32.9bn.

The full-year outlook reflects persistent headwinds. Novo Nordisk expects reported sales and profit to decline 5–13% on a currency-adjusted basis — or, according to the secondary article, adjusted sales and profit to fall between 4% and 12% at constant currencies. The difference likely reflects whether one includes or excludes certain adjustments, but the direction is clear. Drivers include lower realised prices, Medicaid reimbursement cuts for obesity drugs, the “Most Favoured Nations” price cap in the US, and patent expirations for semaglutide in several markets.

Pipeline catalysts on the horizon

Management will lay out its research strategy at the ADA conference in New Orleans on 7 June, followed by a capital markets day in September. The most anticipated near-term catalyst is the FDA decision on CagriSema, expected by the end of 2026, though analysts at Citi — who recently raised their price target to DKK 290 while maintaining a neutral rating — think CagriSema could reach the market later this year. A pivotal Phase?3 study with a higher dose is also in preparation.

For now, the buyback programme and the POSEIDON data together illustrate the dual narrative: a company deploying capital to signal confidence while simultaneously building a broader medical rationale that may take years to translate into commercial returns. The immediate market logic remains tied to GLP-1 pricing, obesity growth dynamics and whether Novo can hold its full-year guidance.