By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen
COPENHAGEN, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill beat third-quarter sales forecasts on Wednesday, a test of whether the Danish drugmaker’s new oral weight-loss drug can help it regain lost ground to rival Eli Lilly.
Sales of the pill, launched in the United States in January, were 5.39 billion Danish crowns ($810 million), up 53% from the second quarter and above the 4.62 billion forecast in company-compiled consensus.
The pill makes up only about 6% of expected sales, but analysts see it as Novo’s main route back to growth, after a two-year slump of profit warnings and a leadership change.
Novo, which at one point became Europe’s most valuable listed company on booming Wegovy sales, is also trying to narrow a gap to Lilly, whose rival Foundayo pill is winning a growing share of new prescriptions.
Novo also raised its 2026 adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit to a range of between +2% to -2% at constant exchange rates, from a previous forecast of a 0% to 6% fall. It was the third time the company raised its full-year guidance.
Adjusted operating profit was 31.72 billion Danish crowns, above the 28.39 billion projected by analysts and up 27% in constant exchange rates from a year earlier. Adjusted sales were 79.20 billion crowns against 73.22 billion expected.
“Growth was led by our obesity portfolio, with continued uptake of Wegovy pill in the US and encouraging early launches internationally,” CEO Mike Doustdar said in a statement.
($1 = 6.6544 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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