(News Bulletin 247) – The Danish pharmaceutical company’s quarterly results were driven by its anti-obesity and anti-diabetic treatments. Novo Nordisk confirms its 2023 outlook noted on October 13.

Like artificial intelligence with ChatGPT, the markets are carefully watching the performance of companies involved in treatments against obesity.

Including those of Novo Nordisk, which seems to be imposing itself in the war between pharmaceutical laboratories to capture this colossal market. The latest results published by the Danish giant reveal the growing success of its anti-diabetic and anti-obesity treatments, Ozempic and Wegovy. Novo Nordisk claims 54.3% of the market (in value) for treatments analogous to GLP-1, an intestinal hormone which secretes insulin.

Between July and September, Novo Nordisk saw its turnover accelerate by 29%, and by 38%, excluding currency effects, to 58.731 billion crowns (7.86 billion euros), or 1.6% in above the consensus cited by UBS.

As for its net profit, the latter recorded a jump of 56% to 22.48 billion crowns (3 billion euros) over one year.

Prospects confirmed

Over nine months, sales of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk’s injectable diabetic treatment, jumped 58% excluding currency effects, driven by strong popularity on the networks for its weight-loss property, although not for medical indications. As for those of Wegovy, its anti-obesity treatment, they soared by 492% excluding the impact of currencies over the period.

Remember that if Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic only has an indication in type 2 diabetes, the other drug with semaglutide, Wegovy, has been approved since 2021 in the United States (and since 2022 in the European Union ) for the treatment of obesity, in addition to type 2 diabetes.

“We are very pleased with the sales growth in the first nine months of 2023, which reflects the fact that more people than ever are benefiting from our innovative treatments for diabetes and obesity,” says the president – Group Managing Director, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen.

At the end of September, Ozempic and Wegovy brought the Danish group’s sales, which increased by 33% at constant exchange rates over nine months to 166.4 billion crowns (22.24 billion euros). .

Building on the success of these two treatments, Novo Nordisk confirms its outlook for the year 2023 which it noted on October 13. The pharmaceutical laboratory expects an increase in its annual operating profit in the range of +40% to 46%, and in its turnover between +32 to 38%.

“Free cash flow is now expected at 65-73 billion crowns (compared to 64-72 billion crowns as of August 10, 2023), mainly reflecting increased expectations for net profit,” recalls UBS.

“We expect a fairly neutral reaction to the results, given that the forecasts were announced in advance,” UBS said on Thursday.

The reaction on the stock market still remains relatively good since Novo Nordisk only rose 2.5% to 704 crowns in Copenhagen. Since the start of the year, its shares have soared 50%.

First market capitalization

This is because Novo Nordisk launched a new page in its history on the financial markets in the middle of summer. At the beginning of August, the Danish group had in fact been propelled onto the stock market by positive clinical data for Wegovy, its treatment against obesity, which reduced the risk of heart disease by 20%.

And a month later, the stock market consecration came for Novo Nordisk which managed to dislodge the luxury giant LVMH from its place as the largest European capitalization.

According to data from companiesmarketcap.com, the Danish group is now well established on its throne, with a market capitalization currently of 437 billion dollars compared to 371 billion for the number one in luxury.

The stock market weight of the Nordic group is now greater than the combined value of all other companies in the Danish benchmark index, the OMXC25, Bloomberg recalled at the beginning of August. Better yet, its market capitalization, 2,984 billion crowns (more than 400 billion euros), exceeds Denmark’s GDP, which amounted to 2,832 billion crowns last year.