The Zhitong Finance App learned that the results of a new peer-reviewed study have brought positive news to Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) GLP-1 agonist somaglutide (trade name Wegovy) in the field of weight loss. The drug successfully reduced the risk of death by 20% in a study of patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease.

Affected by this news, the stock prices of dialysis related companies such as Fresenius (FMS.US), DVA.US (DVA.US), Outset Medical (OM.US), and Bax.US (BAX.US) suffered a severe drop. However, as of press time, these stocks had shown signs of a rebound in pre-market trading.

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk's competitor in the weight loss field, LLY.US (LLY.US) is also conducting research on kidney-related diseases with tirzepatide, an obesity treatment drug. After Novo Nordisk's positive research results were announced, Eli Lilly's stock price also fell.

Initial signs of this positive outcome were already evident in October of last year, when Novo Nordisk announced that they would end the trial called FLOW early as 1.0 mg somaglutide showed signs of success.

According to information, Novo Nordisk further released more data from this study in March of this year. Results showed that weekly injections of 1.0 mg of somaglutide combined with standard treatment reached the main end of the study, reducing the risk of kidney disease-related events by 24%.

The latest findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Kidney Association meeting on Friday. The study included additional data from the FLOW trial, which enrolled more than 3,500 patients.

The study results also showed that among patients treated with somaglutide, about 50% had serious adverse events, compared to 54% of patients treated with placebo. This indicates that somaglutide is as safe as a placebo, further enhancing its potential as a weight loss treatment.

The success of this study not only brought a positive market response to Novo Nordisk, but also provided new treatment hope for patients with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes. With the publication of these data, somaglutide's position in weight loss and treatment of chronic diseases was further consolidated.