This illustration photo of Novo Nordisk Wegovy produced by Novo Nordisk Packaging was taken at a pharmacy in Krakow, Poland on April 8, 2024.
Jakub Bolzycki | Noor Photos | Getty Images
Novo Nordisk reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter net profit on Wednesday and lowered its operating profit forecast.
The pharmaceutical giant said its net profit was 20.05 billion Danish kroner ($2.93 billion) in the three months to the end of June. London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG) overall forecast expects this figure to reach DKK 20.9 billion.
Novo Nordisk also lowered its full-year operating profit forecast for 2024, It said it now expects growth to be between 20% and 28%, instead of the 22% to 30% previously expected.
In the first quarter of 2024, the Wegovy manufacturer's net profit increased by 28% year-on-year to 25.4 billion Danish kroner, slightly raising its expectations for sales and operating profit growth.
On Wednesday, the company once again raised its sales growth forecast, and currently releases full-year sales growth forecast for 2024 of 22% to 28% (at constant exchange rates).
Novo Nordisk faces growing competition in the weight loss space, both from smaller companies and from pharmaceutical giants like Roche, which last month shared promising early results for its own obesity drug candidate Test Data.
Novo Nordisk's Wegovy has also had promising news in recent months. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter and began being sold in the world's second-largest economy. Elsewhere, medical regulators in the UK and EU expressed support for Wegovy as a way to reduce the risk of serious heart disease in overweight and obese adults.
This breaking news story is being updated.