Obesity Drug Wegovy Sales Jump 365% In H1 As Novo Nordisk Reports Solid Results, Raises FY23 Guidance

Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk A/S NVO reported a strong increase in first-half sales and profits and also hiked its guidance for the full year for the second time this year.

What Happened: Novo Nordisk said its net sales for the first half of the year climbed 29% year-over-year to 107.67 billion Danish Kroner ($15.89 billion)

The company's net profit jumped 43% to 39.24 billion Danish Kroner ($5.8 billion), and earnings per share surged up 44% to 17.41 Danish Kroner ($2.57).

Second-quarter net sales rose 32% to 54.30 billion Danish Kroner ($8.02 billion) and net profit climbed 46% to 19.43 billion Danish Kroner ($2.87 billion).

Commenting on the results, president and CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said, “The growth is driven by increasing demand for our GLP-1-based diabetes and obesity treatments, and we are serving more patients than ever before.”

Citing the strong first-half results, the company raised its guidance for the full year. The Danish company now expects sales growth of 27%-33% in constant exchange rate and operating profit growth of 27%-33%. This compares to the previous expectations for growth of 24%-30% and 28%-34%, respectively.

Reported growth will be about 6-9 percentage points lower, the company said.

See Also: Best Biotech Stocks

Why It's Important: Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly & Co. LLY are riding on the back of strong demand for weight loss drugs.

Novo Nordisk's diabetes medication Ozempic's sales jumped 58% to 41.74 billion Danish Kroner ($6.17 billion) and Wegovy sales soared 367% to 12.08 billion Danish Kroner ($1.78 billion). Wegovy, 2.4 mg once weekly injection, was approved by the FDA in June 2021 for treating obesity.

“Demand for Wegovy exceeds supply and to safeguard continuity of care, the supply of the lower Wegovy dose strengths in the US was reduced in May 2023,” the company said.

Novo Nordisk stock rallied over 17% on Tuesday after the company reported positive results for the trial that evaluated semaglutide 2.4 mg for preventing major cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.

The U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk ended at $187.59, down 0.84%, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Read Next: After This Pharma Stock Surges To Record High, Cramer Says It’s ‘Going Higher Still’