Driven by soaring demand for its diabetes and weight loss drugs, Novo Nordisk on Wednesday reported better-than-expected full-year 2023 earnings with a 31% sales increase.
Pictured: Novo Nordisk headquarters/iStock, Ole Schwander
Novo Nordisk on Wednesday reported $33.7 billion in sales for 2023, an increase of 36% at constant exchange rates driven by skyrocketing demand for its blockbusters Ozempic and Wegovy, which beat analysts’ expectations.
According Wednesday’s full-year results, the company in 2023 saw an increase in sales of 31% in Danish kroner, while operating profit jumped by 37% in Danish kroner and 44% at constant exchange rates to 102.6 billion kroner.
Looking at the breakdown in sales within diabetes and obesity, Novo said it recorded 38% GLP-1 diabetes sales growth. However, obesity care represented a staggering 147% sales growth. The company also saw a 16% decrease in its rare disease sales, noting that there was a “reduction in manufacturing output” for these products.
In North America sales jumped 50% while internationally sales increased by 11%.
Novo’s outlook in 2024 includes projected sales growth of between 18% and 26% at constant exchange rates, while operating profit growth is likely to be between 21% and 29%.
“We are very pleased with the strong performance in 2023, reflecting that more than 40 million people benefit from our innovative diabetes and obesity treatments. We continue to make progress on our strategic aspirations. Our focus in 2024 will be on reaching more patients and progressing and expanding our pipeline. The continued significant expansion of our production capacity,” Novo CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said in a statement.
While Novo has found striking success with its semaglutide-based drugs over the past year, it faces more competition as biotechs focus on the lucrative weight loss and diabetes markets. The primary competition in weight loss is Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, which the FDA approved in November 2023 for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or excessive weight.
However, the Danish pharma isn’t resting on its laurels as it entered into a $255 million collaboration and licensing deal in January 2024 with Swiss biotech EraCal to develop and commercialize a small molecule asset designed to control appetite and body weight.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
