Dive Brief:
- Sales of Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug Wegovy were 81% higher in the third quarter of 2024 than the same period last year amid loosening supply constraints and broader insurance coverage, the company said Wednesday.
- Wegovy sales of 17.3 billion Danish kroner, or $2.5 billion, outpaced the $1.3 billion generated by Eli Lilly’s rival drug Zepbound, as Novo continued to cash in on its two-year head start to market and Zepbound’s lingering supply issues.
- Novo will have to overcome some upcoming challenges to maintain its sales lead. Lilly, for example, expects to report data from a trial testing the two drugs directly against one another and that’s expected to favor Zepbound. Positive results from a Phase 3 study of a follow-up drug to Wegovy could give Novo a boost, however.
Dive Insight:
Novo and Lilly are racing to build on their dominant obesity drug businesses. Both are working to broaden use of their therapies, while also working on newer medications that are meant to be more potent and tolerable for people to take.
Analysts have estimated annual sales in the GLP-1 class that includes Wegovy and Zepbound could reach $100 by 2030. The sizable potential reward has motivated a range of companies to pursue would-be rival therapies that surpass Wegovy and Zepbound or improve adherence. Currently, less than half of people who start GLP-1 treatment are still on therapy 12 weeks later, according to one recent analysis.
Earlier this year, Novo expanded Wegovy’s U.S. label to include its use protecting heart health in people with obesity or who are overweight and have established heart disease, a decision that opened the door to coverage for some Medicare enrollees. The company also recently showed the active ingredient in Wegovy helps patients with the metabolic disease MASH, which could lead to an additional approval.
Prescriptions are already climbing, though. In reporting third quarter earnings, Novo said weekly prescriptions doubled since the start of the year.
Lilly is also seeking further coverage expansions, having generated positive data for people with obesity and sleep apnea. It has additionally finished recruiting people into an important cardiovascular outcomes trial that could support Medicare coverage in the future.
While Wegovy sales beat consensus Wall Street estimates for the third quarter, the diabetes drug Ozempic, which contains the same active ingredient as Wegovy, fell 1 billion kroner below analyst forecasts, wrote Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen in a note to clients.
Total third quarter revenues of 71.3 billion kroner also missed consensus estimates by about 1 billion kroner, Chen wrote.
Novo shares fell about 3% in Wednesday trading.
