Flags with the logos of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss therapies Ozempic and Wegovy are photos whereas the corporate presents the annual report at Novo Nordisk in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, on February 5, 2025.
Mads Claus Rasmussen | Afp | Getty Pictures
Shares of Novo Nordisk climbed virtually 7% on Wednesday after it mentioned gross sales of its blockbuster Wegovy weight reduction drug had been seen bettering within the second half of the 12 months as the supply of copycat compounded medicine is phased out.
The Danish pharmaceutical large reported lower-than-expected first-quarter gross sales of its flagship weight problems drug and trimmed its full-year gross sales development forecast as different variations of the drug have eaten away at its U.S. market share.
Nevertheless, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen instructed CNBC that the top of a drug scarcity ruling by the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) would enable gross sales to select up once more later within the 12 months.
“Compounders took part of our enterprise away,” Jørgensen instructed CNBC’s Charlotte Reed.
“We now count on that compounding shall be knocked off, so to say, and we get that enterprise development going ahead,” he added.
Shares of Novo Nordisk rose 6.77% by 10:20 a.m. London time.
The drugmaker on Wednesday reported a better-than-expected rise in first-quarter internet revenue of 29.03 billion Danish kroner ($4.4 billion) for the three-month interval to the top of March, forward of the 27.8 billion Danish kroner forecast by analysts in an LSEG ballot.
Gross sales of the corporate’s fashionable Wegovy weight problems drug rose 83% yearly at fixed alternate charges to 17.36 billion Danish kroner, coming in barely beneath the 18.51 billion Danish kroner anticipated by analysts in a Factset ballot Tuesday.
Total 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 mentioned it now sees gross sales development of 13% to 21% at fixed alternate charges, beneath the 16% to 24% beforehand forecast in February. Working revenue development is forecast at 16% to 24%, versus 19% to 27% beforehand.
Copycat medicine
Jørgensen attributed the lowered forecast to rising competitors from compounded weight reduction medicine within the U.S. within the early a part of the 12 months.
“Within the first quarter of 2025, we delivered 18% gross sales development and continued to broaden the attain of our revolutionary GLP-1 therapies,” Jørgensen mentioned in an announcement.
“Nevertheless, now we have lowered our full-year outlook attributable to decrease than-planned branded GLP-1 penetration, which is impacted by the fast enlargement of compounding within the U.S.”
U.S. compounding pharmacies had been permitted to make authorized copies of Novo’s Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic beneath 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 mentioned it expects gross sales of compounded options to ease quickly, and reiterated that it would pursue corporations that proceed to unlawfully distribute such copycat medicine.
“Following the U.S. FDA elimination of semaglutide injectables from the FDA drug scarcity record, the gross sales outlook assumes a discount in sufferers on compounded GLP-1 therapy throughout the second half of 2025,” the corporate mentioned.
Jørgensen additionally pointed to the launch of a new direct-to-consumer on-line pharmacy and partnerships with telehealth suppliers Hims & Hers Well being, Ro and LifeMD, which he mentioned would decrease Wegovy prices and supply a “secure, trusted different” for sufferers who had beforehand been utilizing compounders.
An announcement final week from CVS Well being, which can broaden entry to Wegovy for sufferers lined by its pharmacy profit supervisor, Caremark, will solely add to that entry.
“They’ve now excluded the aggressive merchandise, so now we have exclusivity with them,” Jørgensen mentioned. “We didn’t bid for exclusivity. We imagine in open entry, so it was CVS that decided to deal with Wegovy.”
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.
Nevertheless, the corporate has struggled to shake unfavorable 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 within the first quarter of 2026. In the meantime, it has utilized for regulatory U.S. approval of an oral model of its present semaglutide therapy, which it mentioned has the potential to be “the primary oral GLP-1 therapy for weight problems.”
“I am very optimistic on CagriSema,” Jørgensen mentioned. “From the information now we have, CagriSema is the perfect product that has been examined out or is in the marketplace, and we imagine we will get these knowledge even higher.”
Competitors is heating up within the weight reduction drug market, with pharma companies together with Roche, AstraZeneca and AbbVie all presently creating potential new candidates.
Novo’s key U.S. rival Eli Lilly on Thursday reported an expectation-beating 45% rise in first-quarter gross sales, although revenues for its fashionable 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 steerage attributable to fees associated to a latest most cancers therapy deal, sending shares decrease.
