London — Novo Nordisk trimmed its full-year profit outlook Wednesday after reporting weaker-than-expected quarterly sales of its popular weight loss drug Wegovy.
Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen in an interview called the market reaction unsurprising, given the market’s sensitivity to Novo’s mega-blockbuster drug Wegovy.
Sales of Wegovy, Novo’s first-to-market weight loss drug, rose 53% to 11.66 billion crowns, well below the 13.54 billion crowns expected by analysts, while sales of Ozempic, a diabetes drug with the same active ingredient, also just missed expectations.
Operating profit in the quarter rose 8% at constant exchange rates to 25.9 billion Danish crowns ($3.8 billion) compared with the 27.3 billion crowns forecast by analysts in an LSEG poll.
All eyes on supplyNevertheless, Novo raised its sales growth outlook for this year to between 22% and 28% in local currencies from 19% to 27% previously.
Persons:
Karsten Munk Knudsen, Wegovy, ”, Markus Manns, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, Eli Lilly, Jorgensen, Novo’s, Novo, Lilly
Organizations:
London, Nordisk, Novo, Union Investment, Barclays, Citi
Locations:
Germany, Danish, United States, Britain