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Novo Nordisk raised its full-year guidance on Wednesday after first-quarter sales of its Wegovy weight loss pill came in well ahead of expectations, sending the Danish drugmaker's stock up about 7% in Copenhagen trading.
During the first quarter, the pill — which entered the U.S. market in January — tallied roughly 1.3 million prescriptions and brought in 2.26 billion Danish kroner ($353.6 million) in revenue, the company said. Analysts polled by Reuters had projected pill sales of just 1.16 billion kroner, meaning the result came in at roughly twice that level, according to CNBC. Cumulative prescriptions since the pill's launch have surpassed 2 million, Novo Nordisk said, calling it the strongest-ever GLP-1 volume launch in the U.S.
Reported first-quarter net sales reached 96.82 billion kroner, a 24% increase, and operating profit came to 59.62 billion kroner, up 54%. A $4.2 billion reversal of a provision tied to the U.S. 340B Drug Pricing Program — treated as a non-recurring item — inflated both figures. Once stripped out, constant-currency adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit each declined, by 4% and 6% respectively.
On an adjusted basis, operating profit reached 32.86 billion kroner — clearing the 28.74 billion kroner mean estimate from a company-compiled analyst poll, according to Reuters.
For the full year, the company narrowed the lower end of its outlook, guiding for adjusted sales and operating profit to fall between 4% and 12% in constant-currency terms — versus the previous range of minus 5% to minus 13%. The revised outlook reflects increased expectations for GLP-1 product sales, the company said.
"The strong Wegovy performance, combined with continued growth in International Operations, has led us to raise our 2026 guidance for both adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit," CEO Mike Doustdar said in a statement. Speaking to CNBC, Doustdar noted that pill sales have maintained double-digit growth momentum even after Eli Lilly brought its competing oral obesity drug, Foundayo, to the U.S. market in April. Doustdar said the Wegovy brand accounts for 65% of new U.S. prescriptions in the category.
The injectable version of Wegovy posted a 12% year-over-year revenue gain, reaching 18.2 billion kroner. Sales of diabetes drug Ozempic fell 8% but came in above analyst expectations, according to The Wall Street Journal. International operations sales grew 6% on a constant currency basis, driven by higher volumes.
Geographic expansion of the pill beyond the U.S. is targeted for the latter part of 2026, contingent on regulatory sign-off in each market, Novo Nordisk said.
The results mark a moment of recovery for a company that has faced significant headwinds. Shares had shed roughly 40% of their value over the prior year — a slide that, measured from the company's 2024 peak, wiped out more than $400 billion in market capitalization, according to Reuters, amid a string of setbacks including clinical trial disappointments and revenue shortfalls. Novo Nordisk also announced a partnership with OpenAI in April to apply artificial intelligence across its operations, from drug discovery to manufacturing, as part of a broader effort to regain ground against Eli Lilly. Lilly raised its own full-year revenue guidance last week after first-quarter revenue grew 56% to $19.8 billion on strong demand for its obesity and diabetes treatments.