Novo Nordisk (NVO) managed Q2 2025

Wegovy-Maker Novo Nordisk said on Wednesday that it doubled on direct sales to consumers because it is with Copycat compounds and Washington requests for the drop in internal medicines.

Financial director Karsten Munk Knudsen said that the treasury chain of the pharmaceutical giant, which allows patients to buy its successful weight loss treatment for less than half of its usual price per month, was essential to regain market share and meet the needs of American policy.

“The market is evolving in the sense that there is both an assured channel, but there is then a cash chain, where patients can directly access our intermediaries,” he told “Squawk Box Europe” of CNBC.

The company said during a call for results on Wednesday that its next obesity pill, due to the American approval of the end of 2025, could also be included in its cash chain.

“We believe that obesity products are certainly lending themselves to the cash chain. It is therefore an option that we have and we are certainly impatient to meet patients wherever they are in terms of access needs,” said David Moore, executive vice-president of American operations, in Investors.

Actions fell 3.5% at 1:15 p.m. London time (8:15 a.m.).

Knudsen said that an ultimatum delivered last week by President Donald Trump demanding that pharmaceutical companies reduce the price of prescription drugs on the US to “the most favored nation” (MFN) by September 29, had “resonated” and that Novo “shares the same objective” of the drop in prices.

The United States is constantly paying the most in the world for many prescription drugs, partly because of its very complex and fragmented reimbursement system and the prevalence of intermediaries, called pharmacy service managers (PBM).

Novo Nordisk’s financial director nevertheless said that the company – and the industry as a whole – had remained in negotiation with the administration on appropriate policy.

“We think there are more discussions to have between industry and the president so that the legislation has come to find the right format,” added Knudsen.

Novo Nordisk launched its direct online pharmacy to consumers, Novocare, in March with the aim of putting its weight loss injection available to millions of uninsured patients. The platform reduces the cash price to $ 499 per month compared to the price of the Wegovy list before insurance and other discounts, which represents nearly $ 1,350 per month.

In May, CVS Health has widened Wegovy drug access for patients covered by its pharmacy service manager, Caremark, and then made Wegovy her favorite GLP-1 medication for obesity.

It comes like the company – and to a lesser extent its rival Zepbound Maker Eli Lilly – struggled to repel increased competition by cheaper compound weight loss drugs. Lily launched his Lillydirect service at a lower cost in early 2024.

In a surprise profit warning last week, Novo said that “a dangerous and illegal mass composition” had continued since May 22, a deadline established by the United States Food and Drug Administration so that compounds ceases after the end of its drug shortage decision.

NOVO said that the lower sales forecasts in the United States for Wegovy and its ozempic diabetes treatment caused the revision. It now provides annual sales growth from 8% to 14% at constant exchange rates, as well as annual growth in operational profits from 10% to 16%.

Rajesh Kumar, head of life and research on the life sciences in HSBC, said on Wednesday that Novo had been affected in a disproportionate manner by the rise of copies composed against Lily given the recognition of the name around Wegovy.

“The brand’s recognition for Wegovy is much more important (than for competitors),” Kumar told “Squawk Box Europe” of CNBC. Lilly’s Zepbound’s medication arrived on the market in the United States about two years after Wegovy.

“Market studies imply that 75% to 80% of compound pharmacies target Wegovy because it is a brand that consumers identify very easily. You therefore see a disproportionate impact of compounds.”

Knudsen described the composition as the “largest unique factor” having an impact on the American market share of Novo, but nevertheless added that the composition “also widens the market because (it) is a sign of a significant demand for these products”.

Wegovy sales climbed in the second quarter, up 67% in annual shift at constant exchange rates to 19.53 billion Danish Kroner (3.03 billion dollars), the company announced on Wednesday on the results. It was slightly lower than 20 billion Danish Kroner forecasts by analysts in an LSEG survey.

Overall sales increased by 13% in annual shift at constant exchange rates to 76.86 billion Danish Kroner in the three months until June, just ahead of the 76.6 billion forecasts for Kroner analysts.

The quarterly net profit came to 26.5 billion Danish kroner, compared to 26.6 billion Danish Kroner expected.

The Danish drug manufacturer reiterated its annual prospects and said it would reduce costs and refine its commercial objective after the company’s share price made a battery on last week’s announcement, extending the prolonged declines since its peak in June 2024.

“We take measures to further refine our commercial execution and ensure efficiency gains in our cost base while continuing to invest in future growth,” said president and chief executive management Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen in a press release accompanying the results.

The CEO entering Maziar Mike Doustdar, whose appointment surprised the markets last week and took effect on Thursday, said that he assumed the role with “a feeling of emergency, a laser focuses on high performance and a fierce determination for the Nordisk of Novo to aim higher than ever”.

The surprise of Fruergaard Jørgensen in May came while the company also tried to regain the confidence of investors following a series of disappointing test results for its new generation obesity candidate, Cagrisema.

In the meantime, the wider pharmaceutical industry faces the prospect of important white house prices – which, according to President Trump, could reach on Tuesday up to 250%.

Knudsen said on Wednesday that he thought that the company was in a strong position to resist American prices, noting that it had a strong and growing American manufacturing presence.

“When we talk about GLP-1, which is the active ingredient of Ozempic and Wegovy, we are actually exporting more from the United States than we import, in terms of volumes,” he said.

“So, the trade balance, if you can call it, is actually in a rather good place and to put Novo Nordisk, I think, a better place than many other pharmaceutical companies.”