Novo Nordisk Faces Shareholder Lawsuit Over CagriSema Trial

U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton, New Jersey, allowed the core fraud claim in a shareholder lawsuit against Novo Nordisk to proceed, while dismissing other allegations. Investors contend the Danish drugmaker misled them about the results of the Redefine 1 trial of its weight‑loss and diabetes drug CagriSema, which showed an average 20.4 % weight reduction—below the company’s 25 % target and below the 22.5 % benchmark set by Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The complaint also accuses Novo of changing the study design, letting participants self‑adjust doses so only 57 % received the highest dose, raising concerns about tolerability. Judge Kirsch said there was sufficient evidence that former executive‑vice‑president of development, now chief scientific officer, Martin Holst Lange, may have presented the dosing protocol as unchanged and portrayed a “≥ 25 %” weight‑loss projection as aspirational rather than a factual claim. The court did not rule on the remaining claims. Novo’s American depositary receipts fell sharply after the December 20, 2024 announcement, and the company is also embroiled in a separate advertising dispute with Eli Lilly.