Weight loss drug wins 25,000 new US users a week

Sign-ups for weight loss drug Wegovy jumped five-fold in the US in the first three months of the year, reaching a rate of more than 25,000 a week, maker Novo Nordisk has said.

The surge reflects scorching demand for the medicine which, alongside sister diabetes drug Ozempic, has been hailed as revolutionary and helped to transform Novo Nordisk into one of Europe's most valuable companies.

But the drugs giant is facing new pressures, as the high price of such medicines comes under scrutiny in the US and rival offerings emerge from competitor Eli Lilly.

In a quarterly update for investors, the firm said it had cut prices in the US in the first three months of the year.

It said prices for Wegovy and Ozempic would continue to fall in the months ahead.

But overall sales are still expected to grow by as much as 27% this year, up slightly from earlier forecasts, despite the price cuts and other supply constraints.

"With the volume opportunity we have at hand, that significantly outweighs what we see in terms of lower price points," chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said.

He attributed the price fall in part to the firm pushing to reach more "vulnerable" corners of the market.

In all, Novo Nordisk said its diabetes and weight loss drugs served almost 42 million patients globally at the end of March.

The US, where about 40% of adults are obese and more than 10% are estimated to have diabetes, represents by far the biggest market for the company.

But the high price of the drugs has prompted many health insurance plans in the US - including Medicare, the government plan for seniors - to restrict access.

Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders launched an investigation into the issue, noting that Novo Nordisk lists a monthly price of $1,349 (£1,078) for Wegovy in the US, whilst in the UK it can be purchased privately from around £140, and less for medical professionals.

Mr Jorgenson acknowledged that demand for the treatments was "putting strains on health care systems".

But he said he expected the firm would be able to convince regulators of the benefits of the drugs, which was also recently approved to treat heart disease.

"I'm optimistic about how we can communicate the value to health care systems of these interventions. I'm very optimistic about the underlying willingness among both patients and physicians to use these medicines," he said.

So far, the biggest struggle Novo Nordisk has faced is keeping up with demand.

It has spent recent years scrambling to try to expand its manufacturing capacity, investing in new factories.

The five-fold jump in Wegovy prescriptions in the US since December is a sign that those issues are easing, said chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen.

"Clearly that is a sign of supply chains operating and running and building inventories and supplying the market," he said. "You should see that as confidence in scaling."

Ozempic was approved for sale in the US in 2017, and in 2018 in the EU. Wegovy followed in the US in 2021, and in the European Union in 2022.