COPENHAGEN, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A senior Novo Nordisk

executive on Wednesday described the drugmaker's

ongoing trial of its blockbuster obesity medicine for treatment

of Alzheimer's disease as a "lottery ticket" due to its

uncertain prospects yet huge potential.

The Danish drugmaker expects data from its pivotal

Alzheimer's disease trial by the end of 2025. After blockbuster

success in weight loss, Alzheimer's could emerge as the next key

frontier for GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide as drugmakers explore

new applications beyond obesity and diabetes.

"We always presented it as a lottery ticket and it still is

because it's very uncertain," Ludovic Helfgott told Reuters in

an interview during the European Association for the Study of

Diabetes conference in Vienna.

The Danish drugmaker is testing whether semaglutide, the

active ingredient in blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, can

slow cognitive decline in early-stage Alzheimer's patients. The

so-called EVOKE trials represent the first large-scale studies

investigating semaglutide's disease-modifying potential in the

progressive brain disorder - the most common type of dementia.

Despite some investor calls to diversify, Helfgott

reiterated the company's focus on obesity and diabetes and

related comorbidities, suggesting no shift into other disease

areas.