1 Reason to Buy NVO

Key Points

• It is clearly very effective at developing drugs.

• Its Wegovy recently earned FDA approval for a new indication.

• 10 stocks we like better than Novo Nordisk ›

It's one thing for a pharmaceutical company to have a blockbuster drug in its portfolio. It's quite another if such a product can be successfully extended to win approvals for other indications.

This is one huge reason to believe in the future of Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), the Danish company behind the immensely popular Wegovy obesity treatment. Last week the company earned a new feather in its cap with the product, and it feels as if it has far more distance to go with drug discovery.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Wegovy has legs

In mid-August the company hit paydirt when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it as a treatment for noncirrhotic metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) in adult patients with moderate to advanced liver fibrosis. The drug is intended to be used in combination with an increase in physical activity, and a reduction in caloric food intake.

Image source: Getty Images.

It probably goes without saying that America's obesity problem affects far more individuals than does MASH.

But Novo Nordisk's successful development of the drug to treat the liver disorder demonstrates two very positive things; 1) Wegovy (and by extension its sibling medication, Ozempic) has the potential to treat numerous other afflictions and, 2) generally, the company is adept at developing its molecules for a variety of indications.

Pipeline to greater success?

Novo Nordisk has quite the impressively wide pipeline, and semaglutide (the molecule which is the primary ingredient of Wegovy and Ozempic) is only one part of it. It's in the later stages of investigating the drug for treatment of Alzheimer's; meanwhile, it's got a host of other molecules in programs aimed in many therapeutic directions.

With such a high pitch of activity, the future is bright for semaglutide and other investigational drugs. And, by extension, their developer.

Should you invest $1,000 in Novo Nordisk right now?

Before you buy stock in Novo Nordisk, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Novo Nordisk wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $671,466!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,115,633!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,077% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 185% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2025

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.