Novo Nordisk Pins Hopes on CagriSema Data and Wegovy Combo Study to Reverse Stock's Slide

Novo Nordisk unveils first Phase 3 CagriSema diabetes results at ADA, launches Wegovy combo trial with Veru, as stock remains 46% below peak amid buybacks.

The Danish pharmaceutical giant arrives at the American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions in New Orleans with more than just a research poster. Novo Nordisk is bringing the weight of its entire obesity and diabetes pipeline to bear on a stock that has lost nearly half its value from its peak. Two distinct clinical catalysts — a first look at CagriSema in diabetes and a newly announced combination trial with an American biotech — will test whether the company can move beyond its reliance on semaglutide monotherapy.

The headline event is the Phase 3 REIMAGINE programme, comprising studies 1 through 3, which evaluates CagriSema — a fixed-dose combination of the amylin receptor agonist cagrilintide and semaglutide — in patients with type 2 diabetes across three settings: as monotherapy, head-to-head against each component, and as an add-on to basal insulin. CagriSema was already submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for weight loss at the end of 2025, but the ADA data represent the first comprehensive readout in the diabetes indication, a market where Novo Nordisk must defend its turf from Eli Lilly and others. The company will present 40 abstracts in total, including Phase 2b results for Zenagamtid, a dual GLP-1/amylin agonist, and fresh evidence on Ozempic and Wegovy. The REIMAGINE symposium is scheduled for Sunday, 7 June, with a live-streamed R&D investor event running in parallel — a clear sign management intends to tie capital-markets communication directly to clinical momentum.

Yet even as the ADA spotlight shines on CagriSema, Novo Nordisk is quietly pursuing a very different strategy: combining Wegovy with someone else’s drug in a hard-to-reach patient group. The company has signed a clinical supply agreement with US biotech Veru Inc. to launch the PLATEAU Phase 2b study. Veru will run and fund the trial while Novo Nordisk supplies Wegovy free of charge. The study will test whether adding Veru’s oral androgen receptor modulator Enobosarm to Wegovy improves outcomes in older adults with obesity compared to Wegovy alone. In return, Novo Nordisk gains access to the trial design, interim results, and safety data — intelligence it can apply to its own future combination programmes. First results are not expected before 2027.

The stock, meanwhile, continues to trade under heavy pressure. Shares fetched around €37.77 on the latest session, edging up just 0.32% on the day but still roughly 46% below their 52-week high. The second article notes a weekly decline of 3.6% and a year-to-date drop of 15.7%, reflecting persistent worries over GLP-1 competition, US pricing regulation, and two consecutive profit warnings. Behind the scenes, Novo Nordisk is buying back its own shares: since 4 February 2026 it has acquired approximately 17.9 million B-shares at an average price of DKK 263.47, worth nearly DKK 4.7 billion, against a total programme of up to DKK 15 billion.

The outlook for 2026 remains strained. Management guides for adjusted sales and operating profit to fall between 4% and 12% in constant currencies, excluding any impact from the US 340B drug-pricing programme. First-quarter results in May offered a modest reprieve: annual guidance was narrowed, and prescription trends for oral Wegovy exceeded expectations. Nonetheless, the pressure on Novo Nordisk to prove it can reignite growth is intense. Of 23 analysts tracked, 18 rate the stock a hold and six a buy, with an average price target of DKK 309.90 and a wide range from DKK 200 to DKK 454. The divergence reflects a single open question: can CagriSema close the growth gap that semaglutide alone can no longer fill?

The ADA data due this weekend will supply the first robust answer. Meanwhile, the Veru partnership signals that Novo Nordisk is already looking beyond that answer, betting that combination therapies — linking GLP-1s with novel mechanisms such as androgen receptor modulation — could be the next breakthrough, especially for older patients who are hard to treat. Neither event alone is likely to reverse the stock’s fortunes overnight, but together they sketch out a roadmap for how Novo Nordisk intends to defend its lead in a market that is growing faster than ever — and becoming more crowded by the quarter.