Flags with the logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss therapies Ozempic and Wegovy are footage whereas the corporate presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Photos
Shares of Novo Nordisk climbed 5% on Wednesday after it stated sales of its blockbuster Wegovy weight reduction drug have been seen bettering in the second half of the 12 months as the provision of copycat compounded medication is phased out.
The Danish pharmaceutical big reported lower-than-expected first-quarter sales of its flagship weight problems drug and trimmed its full-year sales progress forecast as different variations of the drug have eaten away at its U.S. market share.
Nonetheless, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen advised CNBC that the tip of a drug scarcity ruling by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) would enable sales to choose up once more later in the 12 months.
“Compounders took part of our enterprise away,” Jørgensen advised CNBC’s Charlotte Reed.
“We now count on that compounding will probably be knocked off, so to say, and we get that enterprise progress going ahead,” he added.
Shares of Novo Nordisk rose 5.77% by 9:40 a.m. London time.
The drugmaker on Wednesday reported a better-than-expected rise in first-quarter web revenue of 29.03 billion Danish kroner ($4.4 billion) for the three-month interval to the tip of March, forward of the 27.8 billion Danish kroner forecast by analysts in an LSEG ballot.
Sales of the corporate’s well-liked Wegovy weight problems drug rose 83% yearly at fixed change charges to 17.36 billion Danish kroner, coming in barely under the 18.51 billion Danish kroner anticipated by analysts in a Factset ballot Tuesday.
General revenues at Novo Nordisk — which additionally produces diabetes and uncommon illness therapies — rose 18% to 78.09 billion Danish kroner versus an anticipated 78.18 million Danish kroner.
For 2025, the corporate stated it now sees sales progress of 13% to 21% at fixed change charges, under the 16% to 24% beforehand forecast in February. Working revenue progress is forecast at 16% to 24%, versus 19% to 27% beforehand.
Jørgensen attributed the lowered forecast to rising competitors from compounded weight reduction medication in the U.S. in the early a part of the 12 months.
“Within the first quarter of 2025, we delivered 18% sales progress and continued to increase the attain of our revolutionary GLP-1 therapies,” Jørgensen stated in an announcement.
“Nonetheless, we’ve lowered our full-year outlook on account of decrease than-planned branded GLP-1 penetration, which is impacted by the speedy growth of compounding in the U.S.”
U.S. compounding pharmacies had been permitted to make authorized copies of Novo’s Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic underneath a drug scarcity ruling by the FDA.
The FDA declared that scarcity over in February, giving compounding pharmacies till Might 22 to stop promoting copies of the drug. As such, Novo stated it expects sales of compounded alternate options to ease quickly, and reiterated that it could pursue corporations that proceed to unlawfully distribute such copycat medication.
“Following the U.S. FDA removing of semaglutide injectables from the FDA drug scarcity checklist, the sales outlook assumes a discount in sufferers on compounded GLP-1 remedy through the second half of 2025,” the corporate stated.
Competitors heats up
The outcomes come amid runaway demand for the drugmaker’s blockbuster GLP-1 weight reduction therapies, which work by mimicking a hormone referred to as glucagon-like peptide-1 to suppress urge for food.
Nonetheless, the corporate has struggled to shake damaging sentiment following a sequence of disappointing trial outcomes for its next-generation weight problems drug candidate CagriSema.
Novo Nordisk confirmed Wednesday that it plans to file for regulatory approval of CagriSema in the primary quarter of 2026. In the meantime, it has utilized for regulatory U.S. approval of an oral model of its current semaglutide remedy, which it stated has the potential to be “the primary oral GLP-1 remedy for weight problems.”
Competitors is heating up in the burden loss drug market, with pharma corporations together with Roche, AstraZeneca and AbbVie all at the moment growing potential new candidates.
Novo’s key U.S. rival Eli Lilly on Thursday reported an expectation-beating 45% rise in first-quarter sales, although revenues for its well-liked weight-loss drug Zepbound got here in barely decrease than anticipated on decrease drug pricing. The U.S. drugmaker additionally lowered its full-year revenue steering on account of costs associated to a latest most cancers remedy deal, sending shares decrease.
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