Soaring demand for weight loss injectables boosted Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s sales 29% year-over-year in the third quarter, with revenues of $8.58 billion (58.73 billion Danish krone). Its earnings of 73 cents a share beat Zacks Investment Research analyst estimates of 69 cents.
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Novo Nordisk’s popular weight loss drug Wegovy spiked a whopping 734% in sales compared to the same quarter last year. The drug, which makes the user feel full by mimicking a hormone, is putting junk food companies on red alert.
Similarly, rival drugmaker Eli Lilly’s last quarter sales topped analysts, raking in $9.50 billion over $8.95 billion expected, a 37% jump from the same quarter in the previous year.
The company’s diabetes drug Mounjaro contributed $1.4 billion in sales. That might continue to rise, as the company is hoping to earn US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to use the drug for weight management near the end of the year.
Adjusted earnings per share beat expectations with 10 cents per share, compared to analyst expected 13 cents loss per share.
The company slashed its full-year profit outlook due to several acquisitions made over the last quarter.
Limited weight loss drug supply
With soaring demand for weight loss drug solutions, drugmakers are racing to increase production to ease a supply shortage. Morgan Stanley analysts estimated 24 million Americans—about 7% of the US population—will be using these drugs by 2035.
Novo Nordisk limited its Wegovy US supply of lower dose-strengths since May to “safeguard continuity of care.”
Its CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told Bloomberg on Thursday that starter doses of the company’s weight loss medications will “be lowered somewhat” through the end of the year as the company plans to be “gradually expanding and bringing more and more product to the US.”
Eli Lilly is also facing tight supplies. But US product shipments of Mounjaro have increased, improving inventory levels at US drug wholesalers, according to CFO Anat Ashkenazi.
With the company’s anticipated FDA approval of Mounjaro for weight-loss use and no end of demand in sight, patients can expect to see more shortages in the year to come.
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