A field of Ozempic sits on a desk in North Tyneside, Britain, Oct. 31, 2023.
Lee Smith | Reuters
Danish pharmaceutical large Novo Nordisk stated Wednesday it’s trimming its progress expectations for its main weight problems and diabetes remedies 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) in step with the 20.12 billion Danish kroner anticipated by analysts in a FactSet ballot.
Diabetes and weight problems care had been a key progress driver following the uptake of Wegovy and Ozempic, nonetheless the corporate lowered its expectations for progress, citing prescription tendencies, competitors and pricing strain.
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 steerage for the fourth time this yr, saying it now expects gross sales progress throughout the vary of 8% to 11% at fixed alternate charges, in comparison with a earlier forecast of 8% to 14%. It additionally lowered its expectations for working revenue progress 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 yr prior, at 95.9 billion kroner, although the corporate famous that this is able to have elevated by 21% if it wasn’t for restructuring prices of round 9 billion kroner.
“Whereas we delivered sturdy gross sales progress within the first 9 months of 2025, the decrease progress expectations for our GLP-1 remedies have led to a narrowing of our steerage,” 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 preventing” over.
Analysts at UBS count on Novo’s struggles to influence its fourth-quarter efficiency and 2026, however stays impartial on the inventory. It has elevated its worth goal to 340 kroner per share, up from 315.2 kroner previous to the outcomes.
“The announcement of an agreed IRA direct negotiation worth for under being a low single digit influence to gross sales progress needs to be a modest aid albeit given the headlines final evening,” analysts wrote. “We might count on that Novo has taken a bigger worth minimize on Wegovy to offset Ozempic worth.”
Novo’s Copenhagen-listed shares have tumbled greater than 50% over the course of this yr, as a slew of headwinds has shaken investor confidence in what was as soon as Europe’s Most worthy agency.
Alongside a sequence 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 lately minimize its ranking to underperform whereas Berenberg is optimistic on the inventory, saying Novo has hit “peak uncertainty.”
“Novo’s superior progress 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 benefit.”
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 provide 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 one of the best 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 provide was “superior” to a revised bid made by Pfizer.
Again in Denmark, Doustdar advised 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’ve got a number of the greatest pipeline on this trade. However, when your ambition is massive, when your serious about a whole lot of hundreds of 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 now have been taking a look at Mestera for a very long time and so they have a number of 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 really go broad and develop the market much more so,” he stated.
