Novo Nordisk's weight loss pill helps narrow gap with rival Lilly

Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO beat first-quarter profit forecasts and nudged up its full-year outlook on Wednesday, as sales of its new obesity pill came in stronger than expected, narrowing the gap with rival Eli Lilly LLY.N.

Shares in the Danish drugmaker were up 6.8% at 0745 GMT.

Novo, which became Europe's most valuable firm on global demand for its Wegovy weight-loss drug before Lilly's Zepbound overtook it in popularity in the U.S., is banking on its pill to help narrow a widening gap with Lilly and offset pressure from intensifying price competition.

Novo reported adjusted operating profit was 32.86 billion Danish crowns ($5.16 billion), above the 28.74 billion forecast in a company-compiled poll.

It slightly improved its full-year outlook, forecasting adjusted sales and operating profit declines of 4% to 12% at constant exchange rates, versus a previous range of minus 5% to minus 13%. Lilly last week raised its annual profit and revenue forecasts by a wider margin.

Under CEO Mike Doustdar, appointed last year, Novo Nordisk is pinning its near-term recovery on the Wegovy pill, with margins already under pressure after last year's price cuts to its blockbuster weight-loss injection.

But its window as the only oral obesity pill in the U.S. market closed in early April after Lilly won FDA approval for rival drug Foundayo, intensifying the battle between the two drugmakers.

"We have now been competing with our competitor for about a month...and so far, so good," CEO Mike Doustdar told journalists on a call.

Total prescriptions for the Wegovy pill reached about 1.3 million in the first quarter and more than 2 million since its January launch, which Doustdar said made it the strongest GLP-1 launch by volume in the United States. He added the company was not seeing significant "drop-offs" of patients who had begun taking the new pill.

WEGOVY PILL BEATS FORECASTS

The results marked an early test of whether the newly launched Wegovy pill can help revive growth at Novo after a bruising year.

Sales of the pill reached 2.26 billion crowns, nearly double analyst forecasts of 1.16 billion crowns.

"The Wegovy pill is the clear bright spot of the day," said Oskar Bernhardtsen, investment strategist at Saxo Bank, though he cautioned that the guidance upgrade was slightly less than what the market had hoped for.

Adjusted group sales came in at 70.06 billion Danish crowns in the quarter, above the 69.07 billion expected by analysts.

Novo has spent much of the past year on the defensive after disappointing trial results for its next-generation obesity pipeline, weaker than expected sales and a share price slide that has wiped more than $400 billion off its market value since its 2024 peak.

Its shares are down nearly 40% in the last 12 months, lagging Lilly's roughly 18% rise, though the stock has edged higher since late March on growing optimism around the Wegovy pill.

Lilly last week raised its full-year profit and revenue forecasts as strong demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs helped offset lower prices.

Novo also said it had terminated development of the co-formulated version of its next-generation obesity drug CagriSema, while continuing late-stage studies and still expecting a U.S. regulatory decision later this year.

Some analysts said the decision matters because it leaves Novo reliant on a more complex dual-chamber injection device to deliver the two-drug therapy, which they said could prove harder to manufacture and scale globally outside the United States.

-Stine Jacobsen and Maggie Fick/Reuters