By Dominic Chopping


Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk this month started to gradually increase the supply of lower-dose strengths of its blockbuster Wegovy weight-loss drug, having limited supply in the U.S. since May to safeguard access for current patients.

The surging popularity of Wegovy has forced the company to restrict supply while it scrambles to increase stocks. Efforts to ease the pressure are continuing and the company has outlined plans to invest more than $6 billion to boost capacity.

The company still expects continued periodic supply constraints and related drug-shortage notifications across a number of products and geographies though.

With the limited supply of Wegovy, obesity patients have been turning to Novo Nordisk's Ozempic diabetes drug as an alternative because both medications share the same active ingredient, which has also led to Ozempic shortages among patients who use it for treating their diabetes.

Ozempic and Wegovy belong to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 and the company said sales of its total portfolio of GLP-1 medications grew 55% to 37.76 billion Danish kroner ($5.49 billion) in the fourth quarter, with Wegovy sales surging to DKK9.61 billion from DKK2.45 billion a year prior.

"Our focus in 2024 will be on reaching more patients, progressing and expanding our pipeline as well as the continued significant expansion of our production capacity," said Chief Executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.

Net profit in the quarter jumped to DKK21.96 billion from DKK13.59 billion, beating the DKK20.64 billion forecast by analysts in a FactSet poll.

Reported sales rose 37% to DKK65.86 billion, compared with a DKK62.62 billion FactSet estimate, driven by sales of Ozempic and Wegovy.

For 2024, the company expects sales growth of 18%-26% and operating profit growth of 21%-29% at constant exchange rates. Sales and operating profit growth reported in Danish kroner is expected to be 1 and 2 percentage points lower than at constant exchange rates, respectively.

Novo Nordisk has launched a new share-buyback program of up to DKK20 billion and declared a final dividend of DKK6.40 a share, bringing the total 2023 dividend to DKK9.40 compared to DKK12.40 in 2022.


Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-31-24 0303ET