Novo Nordisk slips despite growing Wegovy, Ozempic sales
The company has lost hundreds of billions in market capitalization this year as its GLP-1 sales, which still grow each quarter, disappoint Wall Street.
Novo Nordisk slipped 2% in premarket trading after it reported growing sales of its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs but reiterated that knockoffs were eating at its weight-loss business.
Quarterly sales of its weight-loss shot Wegovy rose 67% year over year to 19.53 billion Danish kroner, equivalent to $3 billion. Sales of Ozempic rose to 31.8 billion kroner ($4.9 billion), up from 28.88 billion kroner ($4.2 billion) a year before.
The company reported a quarterly net profit of 26.5 billion kroner, or $4.1 billion, which was in line with Wall Street estimates.
The company slashed its annual sales outlook last week, blaming compounding pharmacies for lower-than-expected sales of its weight loss drugs. The company also faces stiff competition from Eli Lilly, which makes its own weight-loss and diabetes shots that have shown to be more effective than Novo’s.
The company said it was going all in on direct-to-consumer sales through its NovoCare online pharmacy. This comes after the company had a very public falling out with Hims & Hers, a telehealth company that does exactly the kind of compounding Novo says is hurting its sales.
“Novo Nordisk will continue to invest in expanding direct-to-patient initiatives such as NovoCare Pharmacy and further collaborations with telehealth organisations,” the company said.
Novo has lost hundreds of billions in market capitalization this year as its GLP-1 sales, which still grow each quarter, disappoint Wall Street.
