With supplies of its star obesity med Wegovy now largely unfettered, Novo Nordisk is dialing up its sales expectations for the remainder of the year—and teasing the potential for net price declines on the immensely popular GLP-1.
On Tuesday, Novo issued a statement announcing that four out of five dose strengths for Wegovy (0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg and 2.4 mg) are now available on the U.S. market. The company will continue to manage shipments of the med’s 0.25 mg starter dose to “responsibly initiate patients on treatment," according to the statement.
The huge mainstream popularity of the obesity med forced Novo to reduce supply of lower dose strengths starting in May of 2023. That supply squeeze continued through the remainder of last year and into the start of 2024.
Now, with supplies back on tap, Novo is seeing “more than double the number of prescriptions in the market compared to the beginning of the year” in the U.S., Doug Langa, Novo’s head of North American operations, said on a call with analysts Wednesday.
“Further, while demand is still expected to exceed supply, we grow more confident in our ability to supply,” he added.
Langa pointed out that Novo will continue to “dynamically manage supply” for Wegovy, but only at the med’s starter dose of 0.25 mg.
Overall, in North America, Wegovy is now charting more than 200,000 weekly prescriptions and around 35,000 weekly new-to-brand patient prescriptions, Novo explained in an earnings release. Beyond the U.S., the drug has also launched in Canada.
Meanwhile, the cost of Wegovy—as well as Ozempic—has been a sticking point for Novo in recent months, attracting the ire of lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont.
With that in mind, “it’s fair to assume as volume goes up, prices will come down,” Langa said on the company’s call.
All told, global Wegovy sales increased to 11.65 billion Danish kroner (about $1.7 billion) in 2024’s second quarter.
Langa made his comments as Novo reported that second-quarter operating profit grew 19% at constant currencies to 57.8 billion kroner ($8.5 billion). Sales within diabetes and obesity care grew 27% to reach 125 billion kroner ($18.3 billion).
While Wegovy is doing gangbusters, the med’s weight loss predecessor, Saxenda, saw sales plunge 71% in North America to 741 million kroner (roughly $109 million), reflecting a general market shift towards once-weekly treatments.
In light of its strong GLP-1 performance, Novo has also boosted its guidance for the remainder of the year. The company now expects to chart sales growth in a range between 22% to 28%, up from a previous estimate of growth between 19% to 27%.