Novo Nordisk 2021 Financial Report: Semaglutide Surpasses $6 Billion in Revenue

On February 2, Novo Nordisk announced its 2021 performance, with total annual revenue of 140.8 billion Danish kroner (approximately 22.385 billion US dollars, calculated based on the average exchange rate in 2021 of 100 US dollars = 629 Danish kroner, hereinafter the same), representing an 11% year-on-year increase.

Among which, the revenue in China reached 16.019 billion Danish kroner (approximately 2.547 billion US dollars), increasing by 14% year-on-year and accounting for 11.38% of Novo Nordisk's global revenue. The growth in China's revenue was mainly driven by the rapid increase in sales volume of Victoza after it was included in the medical insurance. In 2021, Victoza's sales revenue in China amounted to 1.544 billion Danish kroner (approximately 1.592 billion yuan), representing a 45% year-on-year increase. Ozempic's revenue in China was 303 million Danish kroner (approximately 312 million yuan).

Novo Nordisk's current core product is undoubtedly semaglutide. The subcutaneous injection formulation, Ozempic, generated revenue of 33.705 billion Danish kroner (approximately $5.36 billion) in 2021, while the oral formulation, Rybelsus, achieved sales of 4.838 billion Danish kroner (approximately $769 million). Together, they contributed a total of 38.543 billion Danish kroner (approximately $6.13 billion) in revenue in 2021.

Semaglutide was also approved by the FDA for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy (2.4mg once-weekly subcutaneous injection) in June 2021. With the boost from Wegovy, Novo Nordisk achieved rapid growth in the weight loss drug market. The total revenue of the two GLP-1R drugs, Saxenda (liraglutide) and Wegovy, reached 8.4 billion Danish kroner (1.335 billion US dollars) in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 50%. However, at the end of December last year, Novo Nordisk announced that due to GMP issues encountered by a CMO, the supply of Wegovy in the U.S. market had to be interrupted. This issue is expected to be resolved in the second half of 2022. In January 2022, Wegovy also received approval in the EU.

Novo Nordisk's business remains primarily focused on diseases such as diabetes and cardiometabolic disorders. In 2021, the few external collaboration deals were also centered around these areas, while simultaneously considering the strategic deployment of cutting-edge platform technologies like RNAi therapy:

• On June 1, 2021, Novo Nordisk entered into a global exclusive collaboration and license agreement with Heartseed for the development of HS-001, an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) therapy for the treatment of heart failure. The deal is worth up to $598 million, including a $55 million upfront payment and near-term milestone payments.
• On June 16, 2021, Novo Nordisk and Lumen Bioscience reached a research and development cooperation agreement to develop oral biologics delivery technology for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases.
• On July 12, 2021, Novo Nordisk reached a definitive acquisition agreement with Prothena to acquire PRX004, an antibody about to enter Phase II clinical trials. The deal includes the global intellectual property and associated rights to Prothena’s transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) business and R&D pipeline. The total transaction value is $1.2 billion, including $100 million in upfront and near-term clinical milestone payments.
• On November 18, 2021, Novo Nordisk announced the acquisition of RNAi company Dicerna for $3.3 billion. One of Dicerna's core products is Nedosiran, used to treat primary hyperoxaluria. The liver is currently the largest target organ for RNAi therapies and also the organ with the most metabolic disease targets. This acquisition is highly beneficial for Novo Nordisk to strengthen its RNAi therapy portfolio and expand its future metabolic disease treatment pipeline.

In the subsequent innovative product development of its dominant diabetes business, Novo Nordisk launched the first Phase III trial, COMBINE 3, in November 2021, comparing the weekly combination icosema (icodec + semaglutide) with once-daily basal insulin. At the same time, a Phase II trial evaluating a fixed-dose combination of once-weekly semaglutide + GIP analog was also initiated.