Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk posts earnings miss, cuts operating profit outlook

Novo Nordisk on Wednesday posted weaker-than-expected net profit in the second quarter and trimmed its operating profit outlook.

The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit came in at 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. A LSEG aggregate forecast had projected the figure would come in at 20.9 billion Danish kroner.

Novo Nordisk also trimmed its operating profit outlook for full-year 2024, saying growth was now anticipated to come in between 20% and 28%, rather than the previously expected 22% to 30% range.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy maker had posted a net profit increase of 28% to 25.4 billion Danish kroner year on year, it said in May.

At the time, Novo Nordisk also raised its 2024 outlook slightly, bumping its sales growth projection to a range between 19% and 27% at constant exchange rates, as well as raising its operating growth forecast to a 22% to 30% interval. The adjustment was linked to prior-year growth net estimates in the U.S., the company said.

Sales growth expectations were raised on Wednesday, with the company now issuing a guidance of 22% to 28% in local currencies for full-year 2024. The sales growth outlook for the period had been penciled in at 19% to 27% previously.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants such as Roche, which last month shared promising early-stage trial data from its own obesity drug candidate.

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening it for sale in the world’s second largest economy. Elsewhere, the U.K.’s and European Union’s medical regulators said it was backing Wegovy as a way to reduce risks of serious heart events among overweight and obese adults.

This breaking news story is being updated.