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Novo Nordisk on Wednesday reported a third-quarter sales increase for its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and lowered its full-year 2024 growth forecast.
The company's shares jumped early Wednesday and were last up 7.7% at 9:02 a.m. London time.
The Danish pharmaceutical giant said its third-quarter net profit reached 27.3 billion Danish kroner ($3.92 billion), above the overall LSEG estimate of 26.95 billion Danish kroner.
Novo Nordisk added that Wegovy's third-quarter sales rose 79% year-on-year and amounted to 17.3 billion Danish crowns. This was above the 15.9 billion Danish crowns that analysts had expected, according to a consensus prepared by the company, Reuters reported.
The company narrowed its full-year 2024 revenue growth forecast to 23% to 27% from 22% to 28% at constant exchange rates and tightened its operating profit growth forecast to 21% to 27%, up from the previously expected 20% to 28%, each at constant exchange rates.
The forecast reflected the company's expectations for sales growth in North America and internationally, driven largely by volume growth of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based treatments, Novo Nordisk said.
“Following unexpectedly high volume growth in recent years, including GLP-1 based products such as Ozempic and Wegovy, coupled with the expectation of continued volume growth and capacity constraints at some manufacturing sites, the outlook also reflects expected continued regular supply constraints and related Drug shortage reports for a range of products and regions,” she added.
Novo Nordisk added that it is investing in capacity both internally and externally to increase supply in the short and long term.
Regionally, Novo Nordisk's revenue in North America increased 22% year over year in the third quarter of 2024. Sales in the key US market rose 21% in the period, with GLP-1 volumes in the region increasing 15%.
“Novo Nordisk is the market leader with 53.9% in terms of total monthly prescriptions and 50.0% in terms of new brand prescriptions,” the company said.
The health titan has faced increasing competition, but has also received promising news in the weight loss space in recent months.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said all doses of Wegovy were now available in the U.S., after previously noting that the lowest dose of Wegovy was in short supply. The news was seen as a signal that Novo Nordisk's efforts to increase supplies of Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic are paying off.
Also in October, a study showed that Ozempic may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, suggesting it may delay or prevent the memory-robbing condition.
—CNBC's Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this story
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