Wegovy obesity drug sales more than double but set to slow

Sales of weight loss drug Wegovy more than doubled in the final three months of 2024, as manufacturer Novo Nordisk predicted growth will slow this year.

The Danish pharmaceutical company has become one of Europe’s largest companies on the back of soaring demand for its obesity treatments.

It revealed that sales of Wegovy, a prescription weight loss injection, surged to 19.9 billion Danish kroner (£2.2 billion) in the fourth quarter of last year, from 9.6 billion kroner (£1.1 billion) a year earlier.

Sales of the treatment were up 86% for the year as a whole.

The strong sales of Wegovy and fellow weight loss treatment Ozempic helped the company’s sales rise 26% for the year to 290 billion kroner (£32 billion).

It was ahead of analyst predictions of 288 billion kroner.

However, it told shareholders on Wednesday that it expects sales to slow slightly next year, guiding towards a range of between 16% and 24% growth.

Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, president and chief executive, said: “We are pleased with the performance in 2024, where 26% sales growth reflects that more than 45 million people are now benefitting from our treatments.

“Further, we completed the acquisition of the three Catalent sites, and during the year, we progressed our R&D pipeline, including obesity projects such as CagriSema and amycretin.

“In 2025, we will continue our focus on commercial execution, on the progression of our early and late-stage R&D pipeline and on the expansion of our production capacity.”