Shares of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk surged close to 14% on Friday after the company announced positive results from early-stage trials for its once-weekly obesity treatment, amycretin.

Novo Nordisk’s amycretin shows 22% weight loss over 36 weeks, potentially surpassing Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. Further trials are planned.

One of Novo Nordisk's next-generation obesity shots to follow up on the success of Wegovy helped patients lose 22% of their weight in 36 weeks, according to early-stage trial results on Friday, boosting the drugmaker's shares.

Novo Nordisk shares were 9.5% higher after the pharmaceutical giant said an experimental weight-loss shot showed patients lost 22% of their bodyweight in a clinical trial.

Amycretin could give Novo a buzzy product in a newly competitive obesity market. It works similarly to existing GLP-1 products by mimicking a hormone in the body that provides a satiated feeling, which curbs hunger, but adds a different hormone in the pancreas.

Novo Nordisk A/S investors got a much-needed boost from last week’s trial results for an experimental weight-loss shot. But there’s still a long way to go to claw back the declines of the past six months.