COPENHAGEN, Jan 22, 2026, 13:34 CET — Regular session
- Novo Nordisk shares rose about 4% in Copenhagen trade after a sharp fall a day earlier
- The drugmaker this week expanded a diabetes cell-therapy partnership with Aspect Biosystems
- Investors are looking to the company’s Feb. 4 results for fresh guidance
Novo Nordisk shares rose 4.3% to 389.95 Danish crowns by 1318 CET on Thursday, recovering most of a steep slide the day before. 1
The move comes after a volatile run in Copenhagen, with the stock falling about 4% on Wednesday after a 3% rise the previous session, data showed. 2
Investors have been weighing a new long-dated bet in diabetes alongside the nearer-term earnings picture that still hinges on its blockbuster diabetes and obesity medicines. Novo and Canada’s privately held Aspect Biosystems said this week they had struck a partnership to develop cell-based treatments for diabetes — a kind of therapy aimed at replacing insulin-making cells. 3
Novo will make an additional equity investment in Aspect and provide research funding, while becoming eligible for future royalties and milestone payments tied to product sales, the companies said. “We have a continued focus on bringing innovation to people living with type 1 diabetes through internal and external innovation efforts,” Jacob Sten Petersen, Novo’s senior vice president for global research, said in a statement. 4
Aspect’s founder and CEO Tamer Mohamed said the tie-up “creates a powerful force multiplier to deliver clinical impact,” as Aspect integrates select technologies and capabilities from Novo into its platform. 5
In New York, Novo’s U.S.-listed shares closed down 2.2% at $59.32 in the previous session.
The next big marker is close. Novo Nordisk is due to report full-year 2025 results on Feb. 4, according to its financial calendar. 6
A lot can still go wrong. Cell-based therapies for diabetes are early-stage, expensive to develop and face clinical and regulatory hurdles, with no clear timetable for material sales. Any setback can sit in the stock for a long time.
For now, traders are likely to treat Thursday’s bounce as a positioning move ahead of the Feb. 4 update, when the market will press for guidance, pricing commentary and how Novo plans to defend share in a crowded obesity market.
