Novo Nordisk revised downwards for the fourth time this year his Forecasts due to the decline in sales of its drugs successful Wegovy and Ozempic as his war with Pfizer for the acquisition of a company specializing in anti-obesity treatments Metsera.
The Danish pharmaceutical company, a cornerstone of the entire Denmark's GDP, said revenue will grow only 11% this year, while operating profit will rise by a maximum of 7% at constant exchange rates, after the company reported disappointing third-quarter earnings. The new profit and sales forecasts compare with previous estimates of revenue growth of up to 14% and profit growth of up to 10%, compared to 24% and 27%, respectively, at the start of the year.
L'profit of the last quarter fell to 23,7 billion kronor ($3,6 billion), below analysts' estimates. Sales also fell short of expectations, and growth was the slowest since the first quarter of 2021, before the launch of Wegovy in the United States, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Le Novo shares They experienced a volatile performance, losing as much as 4,8% in early trading on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange before gaining 2,7%. By mid-morning, the shares were virtually unchanged. This year, the stock has lost nearly half its value due to concerns about competitiveness.
Eli Lilly is Novo's main competitor, which in turn challenges Pfizer.
New struggles to compete with the American one Eli Lilly in the leading obesity drug market. New CEO Mike Doustdar is taking aggressive measures, on the one hand laying off 11% of the workforce, on the other trying to wrest it from Pfizer the startup specializing in obesity drugs Metsera. This week, New has presented a new updated offer that evaluates the company, founded three years ago and with no drugs on the market, up to 10 billion dollars, nullifying the previous agreement Pfizer had already made to acquire the startup. Metsera said that both Novo and Pfizer raised their offers yesterday, and the board of directors says Novo's offer is the best. According to Bloomberg Novo Nordisk's latest offer for Metsera surpasses Pfizer's by 23%.
Although Novo pioneered the obesity drug market with Ozempic and Wegovy, its fortunes began to change last year when an even more powerful experimental injection failed to achieve the weight loss the company had promised. The Danish pharmaceutical company is now pinning some of its growth hopes on a pill version of Wegovy. But Lilly is gaining ground, with sales trends in major foreign markets beginning to mirror those in the United States, according to Morgan Stanley. The U.S. pharmaceutical company raised its forecasts and exceeded sales expectations in its third-quarter results last week.
AstraZeneca hopes for Trump's support
Meanwhile Pascal Soriot, CEO of Astrazeneca, which is instead trying to create a power in the oncology field, is prioritizing building a deeper relationship with the United States and has expressed Astra's willingness to proceed in line with the Trump administrationIt's a move analysts expect to see pay off, given the importance of the US market to the company and Soriot's long-stated desire for Europe to place greater value on pharmaceutical innovation. Soriot, who has met several times with the US administration to reach an agreement on drug price cuts, has transformed Astra into the largest company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Since Soriot took over the company in 2012, its share price has increased by more than 320%.
