Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, renowned for its diabetes and weight-loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy, lowered its annual sales forecast on Wednesday, citing a drop in its market share in the United States.
The company attributed the revision to growing competition from generic versions of its GLP-1 injections, which are being produced by US pharmacies through a practice known as compounding.
As a result, Novo Nordisk now expects sales growth of 13 to 21 percent in 2025, down from its earlier forecast of 16 to 24 percent.
“We have reduced our full-year outlook due to slower-than-expected adoption of branded GLP-1 drugs, largely influenced by the rapid increase in compounding in the US,” said Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.
“We are focused on combating illegal and unsafe compounding practices and expanding access to our GLP-1 treatments,” he added.
US pharmacies had been permitted to create their own versions of Ozempic and Wegovy due to a drug shortage. However, in February, US regulators declared that the shortage had ended and ordered pharmacies to stop making the compounded versions.
Novo Nordisk is also facing competition from US rival Eli Lilly, which produces the anti-obesity drug Zepbound. The company’s shares fell last month after Eli Lilly revealed positive results from a clinical trial for its diabetes and obesity drug, orforglipron.
In addition to this, Novo Nordisk reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, posting a net profit of 29 billion kroner ($4.4 billion), a 14 percent increase from the same period last year and surpassing analysts’ expectations. Sales rose by 19 percent to 78 billion kroner in the January-to-March period.
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