On Friday (October 13) local time, the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced on its official website that the company had again raised its sales and profit prospects, because the market demand for its popular weight loss drugs and diabetes treatment drugs surged.
Calculated at a fixed exchange rate (CER), Novo Nordisk recorded a sales growth rate of 38% in the third quarter of 2023, while operating profit increased by 47% during the same period. This led to a sales growth rate of 33% in the first nine months of this year, and a growth rate of 37% in operating profit during the same period.
The press release said that because Novo Nordisk was more optimistic about the sales of diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss drug Wegovy in the United States, the company updated its sales outlook for 2023:
Novo Nordisk's annual sales growth is expected to reach 32% to 38% this year, an increase of 5 percentage points from the company's forecast of 27% to 33% on August 10th; The expected increase in operating profit is 40% to 46%, an increase of 9 percentage points from August's 31% to 37%.
The press release also mentioned that the company will disclose its performance report for the first nine months of this year on November 2nd. Benefiting from this news, Novo Nordisk's US stock market rose 3.8% in the early trading session, hitting a historic high of $103.99 during the session; The B shares listed in Denmark (NOVO-B) also rose nearly 3% at one point.
At present, Novo Nordisk's stock price has risen by nearly 50% this year, with a market value exceeding $460 billion. Last month, it surpassed LVMH and became the most valuable listed company in Europe. All of this reflects the market's enthusiasm for its developed weight loss drug Wegovy.
It is understood that Wegovy (2.4 mg of Smeaglutide injected subcutaneously once a week) and Novotel are "sisters products". In 2021, the US FDA approved the weight loss indication of the former, and the latter is used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Taking these GLP-1 drugs can lower blood sugar levels, increase satiety, and help control appetite and weight.
According to research sponsored by Novo Nordisk, the average weight loss of Wegovy's experimental participants was 15%, about 34 pounds, and the weight loss remained stable after 14 months. Even the world's richest man, Elon Musk, has revealed on social media that Wegovy is one of his secrets to losing weight.
Moreover, recent studies have shown that smectide has multiple other benefits: significant benefits for heart attacks, stroke, and cardiovascular disease deaths, as well as effectiveness in treating symptoms such as addiction and dementia. Earlier this week, Novo Nordisk announced that the drug has a positive effect in delaying renal failure in patients with diabetes.
The analysis report by Wells Fargo Bank believes that the data on Novo Nordisk's treatment of kidney disease is the "latest positive news" exhibited by GLP-1 drugs, which can provide assistance to a large number of kidney disease patients worldwide. Barclays pointed out in an analyst report that "the therapeutic effects achieved by GLP-1 receptor agonists have far exceeded their initial predetermined goals
It should be pointed out that this may not be surprising for Yu Nuo and Nord. In many public materials of the company, there is almost always a fixed but constantly updated image, which is the systematic expansion of GLP-1 in new indications, focusing on the liver, brain, intestines, and pancreas. Smeglutide has gradually incorporated multiple major indications into the package.
However, drugs still have significant side effects, with the most common being gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea. A study released earlier this month found that GLP-1 weight-loss drugs may increase the risk of gastrointestinal diseases such as gastric paralysis or intestinal obstruction.