Novo Nordisk targets over five blockbuster drug launches by 2030
Novo Nordisk aims to launch over five blockbuster drugs by 2030 and anticipates generating more than 150 billion Danish crowns in pipeline sales by 2035, as stated by CEO Mike Doustdar during the Capital Markets Day in London. The company is striving to reassure markets regarding its ability to manage patent expirations for semaglutide – the active ingredient in its anti-obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy franchises – in the early 2030s. Shares in the company experienced a decline of up to 9% as analysts raised concerns regarding the Danish drugmaker’s pricing power and its strategy for dealmaking in light of impending patent expirations.
Management on Monday outlined a multi-year strategy for the introduction of its next-generation obesity injectables, aiming for an early launch of its CagriSema combination next year, followed by the standalone cagrilintide and high-dose CagriSema in 2028, and subsequently progressing to zenagamtide. Doustdar stated that Novo intends to reach over 60 million patients worldwide by 2030 and increase manufacturing tenfold to provide oral obesity therapies to 15 million patients by the end of the decade.
Novo is also accelerating the expansion of its portfolio of pills and aims to have at least five oral assets in clinical trials before the end of this year. Doustdar indicated that Novo’s oral Wegovy pill has reached a remarkable 7 million prescriptions in the US thus far, highlighting that 90% of those sales are being conducted through direct cash-pay channels. Novo also stated that total departures associated with its corporate restructuring have reached 13,000 employees, following an initial round of 9,000 cuts and an additional 4,000 subsequent exits.
