Novo Nordisk (NVO) delivered its 2023 Q4 and annual financial reports with a positive skip in its step. The company’s revolutionary diabetic and obesity drugs led the charge, boosting the company’s annual sales by 36%.
Novo Nordisk smiling all the way to the bank
During the first three quarters of 2023, these medicines helped the pharmaceutics research and development outfit top the GDP of its homeland, Denmark. This performance also catapulted Novo Nordisk to the top spot among European companies.
Wegovy, the weight loss drug, raked in sales of $4.5bn, increasing the overall sales of this segment by 154%. Ozempic, the therapeutic developed for type 2 diabetics, brought in close to $14bn. In a Yahoo Finance interview, Novo Nordisk CFO Karsten Knudsen said:
I could smile a long time over results like this – 36% sales growth. You don’t see that too often.
The company’s executives are not the only ones smiling. Investors received an approximate 52% dividend increase as, according to Yahoo Finance, the company now has roughly $90bn cash in its piggy bank.
Don’t miss out the latest news, subscribe to LeapRate’s newsletter
No doubt, Novo Nordisk benefitted from being the first pharmaceutical company to launch these semaglutide-based drugs. Experts believe that the market will, however, be more competitive this year as companies such as Eli Lilly (LLY) push their own Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss.
Novo Nordisk battled to keep up with the global demand for Ozempic and Wegovy. The latter-mentioned drug took some of this strain off Ozempic, as many previously used it as a weight-loss alternative. The company dedicated more than $8bn to upscale manufacturing to address the supply issues.
In a bid to keep Novo Nordisk’s market edge, Knudsen added:
We are, as of this week, more than doubling the supply of starter doses we are supplying the American market.
