Shares of Novo Nordisk climbed 4.5% on Wednesday after the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit, driven by soaring demand for its obesity treatment, Wegovy.
However, the company warned that sales growth could slow in 2025 as competition intensifies in the weight-loss drug market.
Net profit for the fourth quarter surged 29% year-on-year to 28.23 billion Danish kroner ($3.98 billion), surpassing analyst expectations of 26.09 billion kroner.
For the full year, Novo Nordisk recorded a 21% rise in net profit to 100.99 billion kroner, again exceeding forecasts of 99.14 billion kroner.
Despite these strong results, the company revised its sales growth outlook downward, projecting a 16% to 24% increase for 2025 at constant exchange rates—below the 18% to 26% range forecast for 2024.
Novo Nordisk attributed the cautious outlook to growing competition and pricing pressures in the booming obesity and diabetes drug market.
Wegovy sales surge, but CagriSema setbacks weigh on stock
The company’s obesity drug Wegovy continued its meteoric rise, with sales surging 107% year-on-year to 19.87 billion kroner ($2.76 billion) in the fourth quarter.
However, this figure slightly missed analyst projections of 20.02 billion kroner, reflecting the ongoing supply constraints Novo Nordisk has faced in keeping up with demand.
Wegovy, along with the diabetes drug Ozempic, has transformed Novo Nordisk into Europe’s most valuable company.
However, the firm temporarily lost its top position to French luxury giant LVMH last month following disappointing results from clinical trials for its next-generation weight-loss drug, CagriSema.
CagriSema, a combination of semaglutide—the active ingredient in Wegovy—and amylin analog Cagrilintide, showed an average weight reduction of 22.7% in late-stage trials.
This fell short of the 25% target Novo Nordisk had previously projected, raising concerns about the drug’s potential to become the company’s next blockbuster obesity treatment.
Amycretin fuels investor optimism despite competitive pressure
While the CagriSema trial results dampened enthusiasm, Novo Nordisk has seen renewed investor confidence following positive early-stage results for Amycretin, another experimental obesity drug.
Amycretin, which works by mimicking the amylin hormone produced by the pancreas, has shown promise in helping patients manage weight loss.
Novo Nordisk announced on Wednesday that it would continue further studies on CagriSema in 2025, with plans to file for regulatory approval in early 2026.
The company remains confident in its long-term strategy, despite increasing competition from Eli Lilly’s rival obesity drug, Zepbound.
The broader weight-loss drug market is expected to continue growing rapidly, with analysts predicting it could reach $100 billion in annual sales by the end of the decade.
Novo Nordisk’s ability to maintain its market dominance will depend on its capacity to scale production and bring new, more effective treatments to market.
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