Novo Nordisk (NVO) reported mixed earnings for the third quarter of 2024 but beat Wall Street revenue expectations for its blockbuster weight-loss drug, Wegovy.
Novo announced an earnings per share beat of nearly 3%, at $0.88 per share, but missed slightly on revenue, at $10.2 billion for the quarter. Novo has seen an increase in sales overall by 24%, bringing in revenue of $29 billion for the first nine months of 2024.
The company’s stock slipped nearly 3% at the start of trading Wednesday after the company reduced its sales and profit outlook for the year, lowering the higher end of expectations due to ongoing decreased pricing and supply pressure. Novo now expects sales growth between 23% and 27% compared to previous guidance of 22% to 28%. The company also now expects operating margin growth of 21%-27% compared to previous guidance of 20%-28%.
But the one bright spot was Wegovy sales, which reached $2.5 billion for the quarter, an 81% jump year over year.
CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen told Yahoo Finance in an interview Wednesday that the company’s momentum continues to grow as it creates more supply of the hot-ticket GLP-1 products.
“Topline momentum is very solid for the company, and that’s really a function of the fact that we have very compelling products, especially in Ozempic and Wegovy,” Knudsen said.
Like competitor Eli Lilly (LLY), Novo saw a decrease in sales of its GLP-1 diabetes drug, Ozempic. The trend continued from the previous quarter and is one that Lilly CEO David Ricks said is likely due to a pivot from non-diabetics who are using the weight-loss brand now that it is in greater supply — providing some relief for diabetes patients seeking the appropriate branded treatment.
Unlike competitor Lilly, Novo’s semaglutide drugs are still considered to be in a shortage — for now. The US Food and Drug Administration has declared all doses of the drug available, but the FDA will still go through a verification process, as it did with Lilly, before it declares the shortage of the drug over.
“It will take some time for us to prove that we continue to supply and scale into the market for the FDA to fully take us off the drug shortage list,” Knudsen said.
That will trigger an end to allowed compounded versions, or pharmacy copycats, of the branded GLP-1 drugs.
Still, both market leaders have acknowledged they will struggle for some time to meet demand consistently. Knudsen reaffirmed that Wednesday, saying that despite doubling the number of US patients served year over year in the third quarter, the company still expects intermittent supply constraints in the near term.
