8 Best European Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds

5. Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)  

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 67

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is a Danish pharmaceutical company that focuses on diabetes care and obesity treatment. The company is one of the world’s leading producers of insulin and other diabetes-related treatments. Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is expanding into areas such as cardiovascular disease and focusing on products for hemophilia, growth disorders, and hormone replacement therapies.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) has a strong focus on innovation and research has made it a key player in the global pharmaceutical industry. The company is a market leader in GLP-1 drugs, a class of medications that treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.

On September 20, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) endorsed the use of Novo Nordisk A/S’s (NYSE:NVO) popular drug, Wegovy, to help treat heart failure in people with obesity. This marks a significant step for the company, as it represents the second time the regulator has supported an application for Wegovy beyond its original use for weight loss, further highlighting the drug’s broad health benefits.

Wegovy was initially approved in the European Union in 2022 to treat obesity. The latest approval by the EMA will allow Wegovy to be used for patients suffering from heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a condition in which the heart muscles stiffen and reduce the amount of blood they can draw in. HFpEF accounts for nearly half of all heart failure cases and presents symptoms like shortness of breath and swelling in the limbs.

Clinical trials have shown that Wegovy, chemically known as semaglutide, not only promotes weight loss but also improves heart failure-related symptoms. In a year-long study, patients taking Wegovy experienced a 16.6-point improvement on a 100-point health scale, which measures various heart failure criteria, along with better physical function and exercise capacity.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) also plans to resubmit data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next year to seek similar approval in the U.S. market. With growing competition from U.S. rival Eli Lilly’s drug tirzepatide, which has shown a 38% reduction in heart failure risk, this latest approval strengthens Novo Nordisk A/S’s (NYSE:NVO) position in the obesity and heart failure treatment landscape.