Investing.com — Novo Nordisk (CSE:NOVOb) (NYSE:NVO) hiked its full-year guidance, saying annual sales and operating profit should decline less than previously expected as demand for its weight-loss drugs continues unabated. <\/p>\n
But shares fell 6% in U.S. trading Tuesday after the company’s new Wegovy pill missed sales estimates and an experimental next-generation weight-loss drug delivered disappointing study results. The company’s Copenhagen-listed shares fell 4.2% by 07:44 GMT after the market opened on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The Danish drugmaker now expects adjusted sales and operating profit to fall by up to 6% at constant exchange rates this year, an improvement from its prior forecast of a decline of 4% to 12% for both measures. <\/p>\n
Sales of the oral version of Wegovy came in at 3.2 billion Danish kroner in the second quarter, equivalent to about $500 million, falling short of the 3.3 billion kroner analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected. The injectable form of Wegovy generated 19.48 billion kroner in sales during the quarter. <\/p>\n
Novo also said its experimental drug CagriSema failed to match the blood-sugar-lowering effect of Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:LLY) tirzepatide in a new study of people with Type 2 diabetes. <\/p>\n
In the trial, CagriSema was noninferior to tirzepatide on the primary endpoint of weight loss, with patients losing 15.2% of their body weight versus 15.8% for tirzepatide. However, on the second primary endpoint \u2014 reduction in HbA1c, a measure of blood sugar control, CagriSema fell short, delivering a 1.9% reduction compared with 2.2% for tirzepatide. <\/p>\n
“We expected CagriSema to show non-inferiority on both primary endpoints, but importantly, for Zepbound to numerically outperform on both co-primary endpoints. So, today’s result came in less favorable for CagriSema than expected,” Wolfe Research analyst Alexandria Hammond said in a note. <\/p>\n
Analysts had anticipated a guidance increase from Novo Nordisk, given how Wegovy has driven a surge in the company’s sales since the FDA approved it as a weight-loss treatment in 2021. <\/p>\n
Total adjusted sales for the second quarter rose 7% year-over-year to 78.49 billion Danish kroner. Net profit fell 21% to 20.99 billion kroner, while adjusted operating profit, the metric most closely watched by investors, rose 11% to 33.39 billion kroner. <\/p>\n
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