A field of Ozempic sits on a desk in North Tyneside, Britain, Oct. 31, 2023.
Lee Smith | Reuters
Danish pharmaceutical big Novo Nordisk stated Wednesday it’s trimming its development expectations for its main weight problems and diabetes therapies as competitors intensifies and pricing pressures mount within the weight reduction market.
Web revenue for the quarter got here in at 20 billion Danish kroner ($3.1 billion) consistent with the 20.12 billion Danish kroner anticipated by analysts in a FactSet ballot.
Diabetes and weight problems care had been a key development driver following the uptake of Wegovy and Ozempic, nonetheless the corporate lowered its expectations for development, citing prescription developments, competitors and pricing stress.
Novo shares fell 4.5% on the opening bell on Wednesday, earlier than reversing course to commerce 0.4% greater. They’re down 44.8% year-to-date.
Novo narrowed its full-year steering for the fourth time this 12 months, saying it now expects gross sales development throughout the vary of 8% to 11% at fixed trade charges, in comparison with a earlier forecast of 8% to 14%. It additionally lowered its expectations for working revenue development of 4% to 10% to a brand new forecast of 4% to 7%.
Gross sales of its blockbuster weight reduction drug Wegovy rose 18% year-on-year to hit 20.35 billion Danish kroner within the three months to September, barely beneath the 21.35 billion kroner anticipated by analysts.
Working revenue for the primary 9 months of 2025 got here in 10% greater in comparison with the identical interval the 12 months prior, at 95.9 billion kroner, although the corporate famous that this could have elevated by 21% if it wasn’t for restructuring prices of round 9 billion kroner.
“Whereas we delivered sturdy gross sales development within the first 9 months of 2025, the decrease development expectations for our GLP-1 therapies have led to a narrowing of our steering,” Mike Doustdar, president and CEO stated in a press release.
Doustdar, chatting with CNBC’s Charlotte Reed in an interview from Novo’s headquarters, added that the agency’s weight problems medicine serve a million sufferers within the U.S., which is a 3rd of the market “everyone seems to be combating” over.
Analysts at UBS anticipate Novo’s struggles to affect its fourth-quarter efficiency and 2026, however stays impartial on the inventory. It has elevated its value goal to 340 kroner per share, up from 315.2 kroner previous to the outcomes.
“The announcement of an agreed IRA direct negotiation value for under being a low single digit affect to gross sales development must be a modest reduction albeit given the headlines final evening,” analysts wrote. “We might anticipate that Novo has taken a bigger value lower on Wegovy to offset Ozempic value.”
Novo’s Copenhagen-listed shares have tumbled greater than 50% over the course of this 12 months, as a slew of headwinds has shaken investor confidence in what was as soon as Europe’s most respected agency.
Alongside a collection of disappointing trial outcomes, rising competitors within the weight problems drug area and challenges arising from U.S. insurance policies on drug pricing and tariffs, Novo has been contending with management shakeups and pushback towards a key acquisition.
Analysts, because of this, have been combined on the inventory. Jefferies not too long ago lower its score to underperform whereas Berenberg is constructive on the inventory, saying Novo has hit “peak uncertainty.”
“Novo’s superior development profile and best-in-class R&D returns warrants a better valuation premium to its friends,” the financial institution stated.
Metsera bid
A spokesperson for Novo stated in a press release that Pfizer’s allegations had been “false and with out advantage.”
Novo then ramped up its bid for Metsera on Tuesday, saying it was now providing as much as $10 billion in comparison with the sooner supply of round $9 billion.
“Novo Nordisk believes that the proposal, together with the construction of the transaction, complies with all relevant legal guidelines and is in the perfect curiosity of sufferers who will profit from our dedication to innovation, in addition to Metsera’s shareholders,” the corporate stated in a press release, noting that the deal was additionally topic to the time period’s of Pfizer’s merger settlement with Metsera.
Metsera stated on Tuesday that the revised supply was “superior” to a revised bid made by Pfizer.
Again in Denmark, Doustdar informed CNBC that the corporate wouldn’t have pursued Metsera if it was not “assured that we might shut it.”
“I’ve enormous confidence in our personal pipeline, we now have among the greatest pipeline on this trade. However, when your ambition is massive, when your fascinated with a whole lot of thousands and thousands of sufferers which might be nonetheless unmet, which have an unmet want and never handled, then no pipeline is nice sufficient,” Doustdar added.
“We’ve got been taking a look at Mestera for a very long time they usually have among the greatest complimentary medicine to our personal pipeline and we glance very a lot ahead — if we will purchase them — to combine that into our personal pipeline in order that we will truly go broad and develop the market much more so,” he stated.
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