Novo rises on Wegovy sales leap, but warns of a slowdown

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Novo rises on Wegovy sales leap, but warns of a slowdown

Novo Nordisk's obesity therapy Wegovy put in another strong sales performance in the final quarter of last year, helping to drive group revenue growth of 30% – but don't expect that breakneck pace to continue throughout 2025.

While Wegovy (semaglutide) sales more than doubled to DKK 19.87 billion ($2.78 billion) in the three-month period, that was slightly below estimates and Novo Nordisk said is now anticipating "intensifying competition and continued pricing pressure within diabetes and obesity care" in 2025.

As a result of the pressure on its GLP-1 agonist franchise, the Danish group is now predicting a slight slowdown in sales growth next year from 26% in 2024 to between 18% and 24% this year.

Wegovy and semaglutide-based diabetes therapy Ozempic – which grew 12% to DKK 33.85 billion in the fourth quarter – have been the driving force behind Novo Nordisk's sector-beating growth performance in the last few years, fuelled by massive demand for the GLP-1 drugs' ability to help people lose weight quickly.

The predictions of a slowdown in demand could stem in part from the ascendancy of rival therapies from Eli Lilly based on tirzepatide – Mounjaro for diabetes and obesity therapy Zepbound – as well as the likely entrance of new players in the weight loss category.

At the same time, Novo Nordisk said it continues to face supply constraints at some of its manufacturing sites – despite a massive investment in new capacity to make active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished injectable products – that will result in "continued periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications across a number of products and geographies."

In a statement, Novo Nordisk chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said he was "pleased with the performance in 2024, where 26% sales growth reflects that more than 45 million people are now benefitting from our treatments."

Investments will continue in manufacturing capacity, he added, pointing to the successful acquisition of three facilities from Catalent towards the end of last year, while the main focus on the R&D side for 2025 will be the advancement of new obesity candidates CagriSema (cagrilintide and semaglutide) and amycretin.

In December, an initial readout from CagriSema's phase 3 programme disappointed investors and wiped billions off its valuation, although, it staged a recovery last month on strong data from a phase 1b/2a study of amycretin.

Shares in Europe's largest pharma company were up more than 3% this morning after the fourth-quarter results announcement, giving it a valuation of more than $286 billion.