The injectable weight-loss remedy Wegovy is on the market at New City Halstead Pharmacy on April 24, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
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Novo Nordisk, which turned essentially the most beneficial firm in Europe final yr because of the blockbuster success of its weight loss medicine, on Thursday beat first-quarter profit expectations as demand for these medicines boomed.
The Danish pharmaceutical big reported internet profit rose 28% year-on-year to 25.four billion Danish kroner ($3.65 billion), forward of a consensus forecast in an LSEG ballot of 23.7 billion kroner.
Sales of fashionable weight loss drug Wegovy more than doubled to 9.38 billion kroner.
Overall North America sales rose 35%, as the corporate flagged that Wegovy had been accepted within the U.S. within the first quarter for cardiovascular danger discount in individuals with weight problems. Wegovy now has 130,000 weekly prescriptions within the U.S., with more than 25,000 individuals beginning on the model per week through the quarter, the outcomes confirmed.
Novo Nordisk’s Copenhagen-listed shares opened 1.45% decrease.
“We are pleased with the sales growth in the first three months of 2024, driven by increased demand for our GLP-1-based diabetes and obesity treatments,” CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen mentioned in a press release.
Novo Nordisk raised its outlook for 2024, nudging its sales progress outlook vary one share level larger, to 19% to 27% at fixed trade charges. It additionally upped its working progress forecast to 22% to 30% from a earlier forecast of 21% to 29%.
“They’ve raised their annual guidance a little bit, which is fine. Really there was no other expectation than continued growth, and substantial growth,” John Rountree, managing companion at pharmaceutical consultancy Novasecta, instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“This is extraordinary growth and analysts now expect it to continue,” Rountree added.
It can be vital for the corporate to maintain its analysis and growth spend excessive and innovate as an growing quantity of opponents enter the market and patents on medicine expire, he added.
Novo Nordisk faces competitors within the weight loss therapy market from the likes of U.S. juggernaut Eli Lilly, and an array of giant and smaller companies seeking to enter the market. Eli Lilly additionally raised its full-year guidance this week.
Recent positive trial data from Novo Nordisk’s experimental new weight loss tablet boosted the corporate’s worth additional final month.
The firm was additionally bolstered by current analysis findings. A European Union regulatory probe earlier this month found no link between elevated danger of suicidal thoughts and self-injury with taking Wegovy or Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic.
Shares have risen 59% during the last yr.
