Novo Nordisk (NVO) shares rose 6% premarket on Thursday, their biggest gain in a month, after a real-world study showed its diabetes drug Ozempic outperformed Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) older drug Trulicity (dulaglutide) in certain diabetic and heart disease patients.
The analysis of nearly 60,000 Medicare patients aged 66 and older with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health conditions showed Ozempic (once-weekly semaglutide) cut the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack or stroke by 23% and lowered the risk of death by 26% compared to Trulicity.
Findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes 2025 Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria.
Both Ozempic and Trulicity belong to the GLP-1 drug class that has transformed weight-loss care. Evidence that some GLP-1s may better protect against heart disease is central to Novo’s push to defend market share against Eli Lilly, which has been gaining ground with newer drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound.