It has been a rocky few months for Novo Nordisk.
Prescription knowledge from IQVIA suggests Novo’s weight problems drug Wegovy is shedding floor to rival Zepbound from Eli Lilly. Wegovy’s potential successor, CagriSema, got here up quick of investor expectations in a intently watched Section 3 trial. Novo’s inventory has fallen greater than 20% over the past yr, and other people feared issues would get even worse when the corporate launched fourth-quarter earnings and its 2025 outlook on Wednesday.
As an alternative, Novo beat fourth-quarter expectations and offered a gross sales development forecast between 16% and 24% – consistent with the 20% Wall Road was on the lookout for. Novo’s inventory rose greater than 4% on Wednesday.
In an interview with CNBC, Novo Chief Govt Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen disregarded issues that Novo is falling behind Lilly.
“We’re fairly assured that as we transfer into the yr and we’ll be supplying increasingly of the starter doses, we will see a pleasant step up in our quantity and serving increasingly sufferers,” Jorgensen stated. “And the steerage we have now given for this yr, you’ll be able to say, testifies to an underlying important ramp in our enterprise. So we’re fairly assured each within the demand available in the market and in addition our means to provide and compete in that market.”
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Individuals taking Wegovy begin off on the bottom dose – or the starter dose – then work their means as much as stronger formulations so their our bodies can get used to the drug. At instances, Novo has restricted the quantity of starter doses it shipped as a result of it struggled to make sufficient of the drug and needed to ensure individuals who had been already on the remedy might keep on it.
Novo’s 2025 gross sales steerage implies a 30% improve within the variety of sufferers taking one of many firm’s GLP-1 medication, corresponding to Ozempic, the corporate stated on its earnings name.
The corporate additionally tried to reassure traders about CagriSema’s effectiveness. Jorgensen stated some folks misplaced weight in a short time, and one other group misplaced weight constantly, displaying no signal of stopping by the point the trial ended, so they could want longer therapy.
“I am very assured within the efficiency of the biology we have now right here,” he stated.
Individuals are watching an earlier-stage therapy – amycretin – even nearer. That experimental drug lately confirmed promising leads to a section 1b/2a trial.
Jorgensen stated Novo is speaking to the FDA about probably transferring straight to a section three trial.
