COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk lowered its full-year profit forecast on Wednesday in an early blow to the Danish drugmaker's new CEO amid a deep restructuring drive to claw back lost ground in a fierce obesity drug market battle.
CEO Mike Doustdar, who took the helm in August, said the lower guidance was due to "the lower growth expectations for our GLP-1 treatments."
"We aim to accelerate on all fronts to be able to compete better in dynamic and increasingly competitive markets,"
Doustdar said in a statement.
Novo Nordisk said it now expects full-year operating profit - measured in local currencies - growing between 4% and 7% in 2025, compared with its earlier forecast of between 10% and 16%.
The company expects sales growth in local currencies of between 8% and 11% this year, compared with its previous 8%-14% range, it added.
Novo Nordisk said third-quarter sales rose 5% to 75.0 billion Danish crowns ($11.71 billion), compared with 76.2 billion forecast by analysts in a poll gathered by the company. Sales grew 11% measured in local currencies, which eliminates exchange rate fluctuations.
The rise in sales in local currency terms, which has slowed sharply in the last year as competition has risen from rival Eli Lilly and copycat treatments, compared with 11.4% growth expected by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.
Novo shot to become Europe's most valuable firm on the back of rapid sales growth of its blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy, but has seen sales growth slow, sparking a management overhaul and dragging down its share price.
($1 = 6.4029 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
