Novo Nordisk A/S’s sales of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy leapt last quarter as it became available in more countries, a relief for investors after rival Eli Lilly & Co. reported disappointing obesity sales last week.
Wegovy revenue climbed 79% to 17.3 billion Danish kroner ($2.5 billion), the Copenhagen-based drugmaker said on Wednesday, above analyst estimates. Sales rose by about 50% in the US, even as prices fell, after more insurers agreed to pay for the drug.
The stock climbed as much as 8.9% in Copenhagen, the biggest intraday gain in eight months.
“This is good enough to provide some relief,” Emily Field, a London-based analyst for Barclays, wrote in a note. The Wegovy beat came despite slightly worse pricing in the US than analysts had anticipated, Field said.
After leading the wave of new obesity drugs to become Europe’s biggest company, Novo faced skittishness from investors in recent months that drove shares down by more than 25% from their peak in June. Attention now will shift to Novo’s next-generation obesity treatment, CagriSema, which is undergoing a large study that’s due to deliver results by December.
Novo is vying with Lilly for supremacy in obesity drugs, the pharmaceutical industry’s fastest-growing new business, while an expanding list of rivals rush to develop competing medicines. The market is expected to reach $130 billion by the end of the decade.
Until now, the biggest obstacle has been producing enough to meet demand, and both drugmakers have pledged billions of dollars to increase capacity while working to convince more insurers to reimburse them for patients. Novo said Wednesday it expects periodic drug shortages to continue across a number of products and geographies this year.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:
Novo Nordisk’s 11% 3Q beat for obesity drug Wegovy and reiterated guidance should assuage some concerns about GLP-1 market dynamics following a weak 3Q from competitor Eli Lilly. The mix is unlikely to satisfy those at the higher end of GLP-1 market expectations as sales of diabetes drug Ozempic were 5% light. GLP-1 supply, Cagrisema Phase 3 data timing and initial 2025 comments are set to be the focus of the earnings call.
— John Murphy, BI pharma analyst
Novo’s 3Q Reassures on Obesity Market as Wegovy Beats: React
Novo’s obesity drug sales nearly doubled outside the US in the quarter, helped by the process of stocking up on inventory as the company launched Wegovy in more places. “That doesn’t mean that it’s going to trail off in the coming quarters,” Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen said on a conference call with journalists. Wegovy is now sold in more than 15 countries.
Novo narrowed the range of its forecasts slightly, predicting total sales would grow 23% to 27% this year at constant exchange rates, while operating profit grows 21% to 27%.
Sales of Novo’s biggest drug, diabetes treatment Ozempic, were about 5% below expectations at 29.8 billion kroner.
