© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The emblem of Danish multinational pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk is pictured on the facade of a manufacturing plant in Chartres, north-central France, April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Guillaume Souvant/File PhotographCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Shares in Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) fell on Wednesday as information about its new weight problems drug disenchanted buyers, though the agency lifted its gross sales and working revenue forecasts for the 12 months on sturdy first half outcomes.
Novo Nordisk, whose major enterprise is to develop diabetes and weight problems medicine, now expects gross sales development of 12-16% at fixed alternate charges, up from a earlier estimate of 10-14%. It sees working revenue up 11-15%, versus an earlier estimate of 9-13%.
Shares in Novo ended down 9.4% on the market shut.
“It might be decrease than anticipated gross sales of Wegovy, which disenchanted,” Sydbank analyst Soren Lontoft Hansen instructed Reuters, referring to Novo’s new weight problems drug, which has confronted provide points since its launch in the US final 12 months.
Gross sales of Wegovy declined to 1.2 billion Danish crowns ($163.27 million) within the second quarter from 1.4 billion within the first quarter. General, gross sales of weight problems medicine grew 83% within the second quarter in comparison with the identical interval final 12 months.
The corporate additionally stated it anticipated to make all dose strengths of Wegovy out there in the US “in the direction of the top of 2022”.
“That’s maybe a tightening of the rhetoric in comparison with Q1, the place they stated ‘within the second half of the 12 months’,” Hansen stated.
That was possible as a result of “decrease output as scale-up is barely slower than deliberate,” Jefferies analysts stated in a observe.
Buyers had additionally hoped for extra constructive information from Novo’s SELECT trial, which investigates cardiovascular advantages from its Wegovy drug, Hansen stated. Novo stated on Wednesday the trial would proceed “in accordance with the trial protocol”.
“There was speak that the research might be stopped earlier if a very giant discount within the danger of cardiovascular occasions was proven,” stated Hansen, who seen the general quarterly outcomes from Novo as “actually sturdy”.
Novo reported second-quarter working revenue of 18.4 billion Danish crowns, simply above the 18.3 billion forecast by analysts, in line with Refinitiv information. The corporate had initially deliberate to announce outcomes on Thursday.
“We’re very happy with the gross sales development within the first half of 2022. The expansion is pushed by growing demand for GLP-1 based mostly diabetes therapies, particularly Ozempic,” Chief Government Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen stated in an announcement.
An investor convention name shall be held at 1730 GMT on Wednesday.
($1 = 7.3474 Danish crowns)
