Net sales of Novo Nordisk by quarter 2021-2024
Shift change at big pharma's top
Novo Nordisk has been in the public's focus lately, mostly due to its diabetes and weight loss drug Ozempic/Wegovy. As a result, Novo Nordisk's share prices have increased massively, making it the world's third ranked pharmaceutical company based on market capitalization, topped only by Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson (which is not a pure play pharma company). As of October 2023, Novo Nordisk was valued at over 300 billion U.S. dollars, while Eli Lilly stood at almost half a trillion U.S. dollars.
Is 'semaglutide' the new superstar?
Novo Nordisk's highly valued products Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy are all based on semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Ozempic was approved in June 2017 in the U.S., as an injectable antidiabetic medication. In September 2019, a version for oral administration (Rybelsus) was approved. Finally, a high dosage version of the drug (Wegovy) was approved in June 2021, marketed as a weight loss/anti-obesity medication. Since overweight and obesity are huge problems in many (developed) countries, this product is believed to have very high market potential in the near future.