On Thursday, Novo Nordisk increased its forecast for 2024 as the Danish pharmaceutical firm tries to increase production of its Wegovy weight-loss medication. Eli Lilly, a competitor, pushed the business to lower the drug’s price, which caused a decline in its stock.
These are Novo’s second round of findings since Lilly introduced the obesity medication Zepbound to the US market in December. They show how quickly the dynamics are shifting as the two companies compete in a sector that experts believe may be valued up to $100 billion by the end of the decade.
Increased volumes and competition led to a decline in prices for Wegovy and the diabetic medicine Ozempic, which share the same active ingredient, the company’s chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen told analysts during a teleconference in the first quarter.
“Net pricing like-for-like will be down in the U.S. given increasing volume and competition,” he stated, predicting that the trend will hold for the remainder of the year.
Around 12:30 GMT, Novo’s shares experienced a 3.6% decline before momentarily remaining unchanged. As of 1400 GMT, they were down 2.4%.
Executives from Novo Pharmaceuticals stated that the business is progressively expanding the supply of “starter” or lower strength Wegovy doses in the United States after limiting the supply of such doses in May of last year to meet demand. There are still shortages.
In the United States, over 27,000 new patients begin receiving the weekly injection every week, according to CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen during a media conference. “This is really a very nice volume ramp, as we were planning for,” he stated. The amount of beginning dosages available in the United States has increased by more than five times since December.