It’s good for your heart and your soul… 

Ozempic, the drug that already turned half of Wall Street into crash-diet influencers, just showed it can do more than melt pounds… it might also keep your ticker from exploding. In short, Novo Nordisk is on a heater today after a new study of 60,000 Medicare patients showed Ozempic cut the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death by 23% vs. Eli Lilly’s old warhorse Trulicity. Even better, risk of death alone dropped 26%. 

(Source: Giphy) 

Translation: Even though Lilly has been stunting with newer drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound, this is a friendly reminder that Novo’s still got plenty of bullets in the GLP-1 chamber. With that said, while this is the same miracle drug class fueling the $100B+ obesity boom… Novo did something even more impressive: Reminding Wall Street that this story isn’t just about the Aunt Vickies of the world trying to get their husbands to love them again. If insurers see GLP-1s as heart-protective meds, coverage broadens, demand sticks, and Novo keeps its moat against Lilly’s newer weapons. 

(Source: Yahoo Finance) 

However, before the Novo stans get too loud… Trulicity isn’t Lilly’s A-team anymore. That’s like beating LeBron’s high school JV tape. Still, the market doesn’t care: it’s more validation that Ozempic isn’t a fad. It’s proving sticky in weight loss and cardiovascular protection. Which is something considering that Novo’s shares had been down more than 50% over the last 12 months thanks to clinical clusterf*ks and commercial setbacks. Meaning, a clean W (even against Lilly’s bench player) is enough to juice trading desks. 

Meanwhile, Lilly’s Mounjaro showed comparable protection to Trulicity in a separate head-to-head trial… but since that wasn’t a real-world study, it doesn’t directly offset Novo’s data. In other words, Novo stole the day’s headlines, but the arms race isn’t anywhere near settled. 

(Source: Giphy) 

As for investors, GLP-1s are officially moving from “Hollywood juice cleanse” to “Medicare-approved life insurance.” That changes the calculus for regulators, payers, and investors… a.k.a, it’s a hell of a lot easier to justify $1k/month injections when the outcome is fewer strokes, not just fewer love handles.

For now though, Novo got the boost it needed. But one thing is obvious: Ozempic is no longer a fad. We’re now at the part where pharma is a deathmatch with trillions of dollars in chronic-disease spend up for grabs. So place your bets accordingly. Until next time, friends…

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.