Novo Nordisk reports DKK 290.4 billion in 2024 sales and guides to slower 2025 growth

Novo Nordisk reported full-year 2024 sales of DKK 290.4 billion, up 25% in Danish kroner and 26% at constant exchange rates, alongside operating profit of DKK 128.3 billion ^[1]. The same day, the company guided investors to slower growth in 2025: sales up 16% to 24% at constant exchange rates, and operating profit up 19% to 27% ^[1]. Reported in Danish kroner, sales growth would be about 3 percentage points higher at current exchange rates ^[1].

Ozempic (semaglutide), approved for type 2 diabetes, remained the company's largest product at DKK 120.3 billion, up 26% in both Danish kroner and at constant exchange rates, or nearly $17 billion ^[1][2]. Wegovy (also semaglutide, at a higher dose, for obesity) recorded DKK 58.2 billion for the year, compared with DKK 31.3 billion in 2023 ^[2]. Novo Nordisk groups Wegovy with Saxenda in obesity care, a category that rose 56% to DKK 65.1 billion ^[1]. In the fourth quarter alone, Wegovy sales more than doubled to DKK 19.9 billion from DKK 9.6 billion a year earlier; analysts at Intron Health said that figure missed Wall Street expectations by about 2% for the quarter ^[2].

The company's total fourth-quarter sales were DKK 85.68 billion, a 30% increase from the same period in 2023 ^[2]. Rybelsus, the oral semaglutide for type 2 diabetes, reached DKK 23.3 billion for the year, up 24% ^[1]. Victoza sales fell 37% to DKK 5.5 billion as the market shifted toward once-weekly treatments ^[1]. Insulin sales totaled DKK 55.4 billion, up 15%, and diabetes care overall reached DKK 206.6 billion, up 19% ^[1][2].

Costs and cash moved sharply. Research and development costs rose 48% to DKK 48.1 billion ^[1]. Free cash flow was DKK -14.7 billion, compared with DKK 68.3 billion in 2023, largely because of the USD 11.7 billion purchase of three Catalent manufacturing sites ^[1]. Net profit rose 21% to DKK 101.0 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose 22% to DKK 22.63 ^[1]. The effective tax rate was 20.6%, and the company expects 21% to 23% in 2025 ^[1].

On the earnings call, David Moore, head of U.S. operations and global business development, said Wegovy had reached about 200,000 weekly prescriptions in the United States, roughly double the level at the start of 2024, and that the U.S. market for anti-obesity medicines grew 160% last year ^[2]. Chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen named supply, the "magnitude of competition" and net pricing levels as the factors most likely to move 2025 results ^[2]. Analysts at ODDO BHF called the 2025 sales range "wide but reassuring" ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

Novo Nordisk says it still expects periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications across a number of products and geographies in 2025, based on capacity limits at some manufacturing sites ^[1]. That means availability of specific doses at specific pharmacies may continue to vary, though the annual report does not identify which presentations or regions could be affected.

The company said three former Catalent fill-finish sites, acquired in December, should gradually increase market supply beyond its existing contract manufacturing arrangements "from '26" ^[2]. Novo Nordisk is spending around DKK 65 billion on capacity in 2025, up from roughly DKK 45 billion planned a year earlier, covering active pharmaceutical ingredient production, fill-finish and packaging ^[1][2].

The 2025 guidance includes continued pricing pressure in diabetes and obesity care and gross-to-net rebate adjustments in the U.S. ^[1]. Novo Nordisk has not disclosed how those pricing dynamics might translate into what patients pay at the pharmacy counter.

Novo Nordisk described its global position as roughly two-thirds of the combined GLP-1 market for diabetes and obesity by patients, a 55.1% value share of the GLP-1 diabetes segment, and a 70.4% volume share of the branded obesity market ^[1][2]. Eli Lilly, which makes the tirzepatide products Mounjaro and Zepbound, is the main competitor cited in the 2025 outlook as competition intensifies ^[1][2].

What happens next

Novo Nordisk's 2025 guidance, issued Feb. 5, 2025, points to sales growth of 16% to 24% and operating profit growth of 19% to 27% at constant exchange rates, with capital expenditure around DKK 65 billion and free cash flow of DKK 75 billion to DKK 85 billion ^[1]. The company also said it expects financial items to show a net loss of about DKK 9 billion in 2025, driven by hedged currency losses and interest costs from financing the Catalent transaction ^[1].