Novo Nordisk shares hit a record high after the Danish company reported soaring sales of its obesity and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, pushing its market value past $500bn and cementing its position as Europe’s most valuable company.
Runaway demand for the drugs, which are taken by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk, has left the company struggling to keep up with orders and scrambling to expand production sites.
Novo Nordisk shares rose by 4% on Wednesday before settling to trade 1.2% higher, leaving its market value hovering near $500bn (£394bn). The obesity drug boom has turned the drugmaker into Europe’s most valuable company, ahead of France’s luxury goods group LVMH, with a market value of $422bn.
Obesity drug sales jumped by 154% at constant exchange rates to 41.6bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) last year, fuelled by demand for Wegovy, which brought in £3.6bn. Sales of diabetes drugs such as Ozempic grew by 52%, and obesity and diabetes drug sales totalled nearly £25bn.
Overall sales rose by 36% to £26.6bn, while profit before tax jumped by 52% to £12bn. The company expects sales growth to slow to between 18% and 26% this year, and operating profit growth of 21% to 29%, as competition increases and supply constraints continue.
The new generation of weight-loss drugs, which also include the US drugmaker Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, sold as Zepbound, mimic the action of a gut hormone called GLP-1 by suppressing appetite and slowing the movement of food through the digestive system.
They have helped many people lose significant amounts of weight but can cause side effects ranging from nausea, bloating, diarrhoea and fatigue to more serious stomach, kidney and gallbladder problems and inflammation of the pancreas.
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the president and chief executive, said: “More than 40 million people are now benefiting from our innovative diabetes and obesity treatments. Our focus in 2024 will be on reaching more patients, progressing and expanding our pipeline as well as the continued significant expansion of our production capacity.”
Blockbuster anti-obesity drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy also appear to dampen inflammation, raising hope that they could be used to treat diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which are characterised by brain inflammation, according to the journal Nature.
As more patients start on the drugs, which they self-inject weekly, Karsten Munk Knudsen, the chief financial officer of Novo Nordisk, said prices for Wegovy and Ozempic would gradually come down to ease pressure on national healthcare systems and insurers.
In the US, Wegovy’s list price for a month’s supply is $1,349 while Zepbound is at $1,060. In the UK, Wegovy’s list price for a high-dose pack with four pre-filled pens is £175.80.
Separately on Wednesday, the GSK chief executive, Emma Walmsley, said its new RSV vaccine was expected to bring in annual sales of at least £3bn in future.
Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker beat analysts’ expectations with fourth-quarter profits and sales as the RSV vaccine became a blockbuster, racking up £1.2bn sales in four months, on top of steady demand for its shingles shot and HIV medicines. RSV, a common respiratory virus, can lead to hospitalisation and death in older adults.
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In the first annual results since it spun off its consumer healthcare business Haleon in July 2022, GSK reported a pre-tax profit of £6.1bn, up by 14% at constant exchange rates. Turnover rose by 5% to £30.3bn.
The company has upgraded its outlook and now estimates it can achieve more than £38bn in sales by 2031, up from £33bn estimated in 2021.
The RSV vaccine, Arexvy, was launched in the US last autumn. It was approved in the UK in July but is not yet available on the NHS. The shot can be bought privately at pharmacies and private clinics.
Walmsley said: “We’ve been having very positive discussions with the government and we’re hoping to bring this to the UK public as soon as possible.”
The GSK share price reversed earlier losses and rose 3.6% to £15.93 on Wednesday, and has increased 15% in the past six months.