Novo Nordisk has reported a whopping 25% growth in net sales in 2024 compared to the previous year, with the company generating DKK290.4 billion ($40.3 billion) in sales last year versus DKK232.3 billion ($32.3 billion) in 2023.
Following the release of the results, Novo Nordisk’s stock was up by 4.6% at the Nasdaq market open on 5 February, compared to the market close on the previous day. The company’s market cap currently stands at $364.1 billion.
The Danish pharmaceutical company’s net profits also grew by 21% in 2024 to DKK101 billion ($14 billion). Its diabetes and obesity portfolio remained top earners raking in DKK271.8 billion ($37.8 billion), and accounting for about 93.5% of the total sales last year.
The company’s obesity portfolio, which consists of Wegovy (semaglutide) and Saxenda (liraglutide), raked in DKK65.1 billion ($9 billion), with the diabetes therapies, especially glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists, making up the rest. Novo Nordisk, in its annual report, noted a 119% volume growth of the global branded obesity market.
The company has faced supply constraints for its obesity products in the past few years. To alleviate these supply constraints and boost manufacturing, Novo Nordisk signed a $16.5bn deal to acquire Catalent, a contract development and manufacturing organization, in 2024.
The company forecast a sales growth of 16% to 24% at constant exchange rates in 2025, below the 18% to 26% forecast for 2024. Novo Nordisk has faced stiff competition in the obesity space from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound (tirzepatide), which raked in $4.9 billion in sales last year.
Novo Nordisk also plans to add another obesity product to its portfolio – CagriSema, a combination of cagrilintide, a dual amylin and calcitonin receptor agonist, and semaglutide, a GLP-1 agonist.
In December 2024, the company reported positive results from a Phase III REDEFINE-1 trial (NCT05567796). Although CagriSema achieved a superior weight loss of 22.7% after 68 weeks, compared to a reduction of 11.8% with cagrilintide 2.4 mg, 16.1% with semaglutide 2.4 mg, and 2.3% with placebo alone. It fell short of the 25% weight loss Novo Nordisk had previously forecasted for CagriSema. This lead to the company’s stock falling by about 20% on the day the trial results were released.
