To The Moon

$Novo-Nordisk A/S(NVO)$ reported Q3 2024 earnings before the bell on Nov. 6, beating market expectations with revenue of DKK 204,720 million ($29.5 billion), up 23%.Bariatric care sales grew 44%, with North America up 32% and international operations up 95%.

Operating profit increased by approximately 26% year-on-year to DKK 33.8 billion, and year-to-date operating profit amounted to DKK 91.6 billion, an increase of approximately 18% year-on-year.

The company raised its full-year sales and operating profit growth estimates to 23%-27% and 21%-27%, respectively, from previous currency-adjusted estimates of 22%-28% and 20%-28%.

Better-than-expected sales of its most critical weight-loss treatment, Wegovy.This comes after its rival $Eli Lilly(LLY)$ reported a rare miss on its GLP-1 drug Zepbound.

• Wegovy Q3 sales came in at DKK17.3bn ($2.5bn), above market expectations of DKK15.9bn and up about 79% year-on-year, with North America's roughly 50% year-on-year sales growth the main contributor.

• Eli Lilly's Q3 Zepbound revenue of $1.3 billion was below market expectations of $1.6 billion.

• Meanwhile, Wegovy's sister drug Ozempic (used in diabetes treatment) came in below expectations with revenues of DKK 29.8bn, up about 26% year-on-year.

• Wegovy sells more in North America than Zepbound, but sells at a somewhat lower price point

But at the same time, at the Q3 media briefing, NVO said that 10 people have died and 100 have been hospitalized while taking generic versions of its popular drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, that multiple safety issues have been identified in the marketed compounded versions, and that it is investigating reports of hospitalizations and deaths.

The NVO last month asked the FDA to ban generic drugmakers from producing compounded simethicone because the drugs are too complex to be safely replicated.And current U.S. regulations allow drugmakers to replicate drugs in short supply by altering their ingredients to meet demand.