Novo Nordisk Reports Strong Q1-Q3 Results: $16 Billion Revenue with Semaglutide Exceeding $4 Billion

Article Source: PharmaCube Info

Author: Shi Bei

On November 3, Novo Nordisk announced its results for the first three quarters, with total revenue reaching DKK 102.467 billion (approximately USD 16.0 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of 8%. Of this, revenue in the China region amounted to DKK 12.309 billion (approximately USD 1.92 billion), up 14% year-on-year and accounting for 12% of Novo Nordisk's global revenue.

Novo Nordisk's business primarily focuses on diabetes, obesity, biopharmaceuticals, and other chronic disease areas.

Novo Nordisk currently holds a leading position in the diabetes, obesity, and biopharmaceutical sectors, accounting for 80%, 6%, and 14% of its revenue in the first three quarters, respectively. Within the diabetes segment, GLP-1 revenue has nearly matched that of insulin products, with total sales in the first three quarters reaching DKK 37.225 billion (+24%), approximately USD 5.81 billion.

Specifically, sales revenue for the semaglutide subcutaneous injection Ozempic increased by 53% in the first three quarters, reaching 22.989 billion Danish kroner (approximately $3.59 billion), while the oral semaglutide formulation Rybelsus grew by 190%, reaching 3.015 billion Danish kroner (approximately $470 million);

Additionally, on June 5 of this year, the FDA approved Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg once-weekly subcutaneous injection) for the treatment of obesity. Together with Saxenda (liraglutide), these two weight-loss medications contributed 5.941 billion Danish kroner (approximately $930 million) in revenue (+41%) to Novo Nordisk. Since its launch in June 2021, Wegovy reached the milestone of 10,000 prescriptions per week within five weeks, whereas it took Saxenda five years to achieve the same feat. Novo Nordisk is not content with Wegovy’s growth in the U.S. market alone; the company expects the product to be approved in Europe by the end of the year and has already submitted a marketing application in Japan. Novo Nordisk stated that it will continue to launch Wegovy and Rybelsus in other countries worldwide next year.

Regarding the Chinese market, the CEO of Novo Nordisk stated that they are closely monitoring insulin price reductions. This business segment is expected to be impacted by volume-based procurement (VBP) and cause a "significant impact" on the company's Chinese operations, or even potentially lead to a "one-off exit." However, Novo Nordisk remains confident in its ability to achieve growth in key markets. According to financial reports, Novo Nordisk's insulin accounts for 50.8% of the Chinese insulin market, with sales revenue for the first three quarters reaching DKK 9.505 billion (approximately USD 1.48 billion).

Novo Nordisk's future development strategy is to further enrich its product pipeline and consistently maintain an industry-leading success rate across all stages of product development. The strategic goal for its product portfolio is to consolidate its core businesses in diabetes, obesity, and biologics while expanding into areas such as NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis), CVD (cardiovascular disease), CKD (chronic kidney disease), and stem cell therapy.

The following is Novo Nordisk's R&D pipeline:

Based on strong performance growth in the first three quarters, Novo Nordisk has raised its expected total revenue growth for 2021 from 10%–13% to 12%–15%.