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Buoyed by the strong momentum of its semaglutide franchise in diabetes and obesity, Novo Nordisk’s 2021 net income reached 47.76 billion Danish kroner ($7.59 billion), landing Novo last on Fierce’s top 10 list.
Last year’s bottom line wasn’t a huge jump for Novo, which made 42.14 billion Danish kroner ($6.44 billion) in 2020 profit. Even so, the Danish diabetes powerhouse posted 140.8 billion Danish kroner ($21.53 billion) in 2021, thanks in large part to sales of type 2 diabetes stars Ozempic and Rybelsus plus obesity newcomer Wegovy.
Combined, Novo Nordisk’s net income and revenue accounted for 33.9% of net profit last year, the company said in a recent securities filing.
In the same stretch, Novo said its cost of goods sold rose 15% to 23.66 billion Danish kroner in constant currency, giving a gross margin of 83.2% in Danish kroner. That was a hair short of Novo’s 83.5% margin in 2020, which the company attributed to lower realized prices in the US and negative currency exchange effects. Further, the company had to write off costs related to its 2020 Emisphere Technologies takeover.
Novo paid $1.8 billion for Emisphere – the company behind Rybelsus’ oral delivery technology – in late 2020. Novo Nordisk suggested that the deal for the drug delivery specialist could help boost its oral biologics offerings across a range of diseases.
Meanwhile, Novo’s sales and distribution costs also increased by 15% at constant exchange rates to 37 billion Danish kroner, largely driven by the company’s international and US operations. Much of the company’s spending last year was tied to the launch of Rybelsus and Ozempic and efforts to build the obesity market for its GLP-1 weight loss med Wegovy. At the same time, Novo Nordisk was able to offset some of those costs by spending less on promoting insulin.
While Novo is riding high on its semaglutide franchise, Wegovi’s obesity rollout hasn’t been without its hiccups. Late last year, Novo Nordisk warned that the drug would be in short supply after production issues halted deliveries to a contract manufacturer responsible for filling the syringes.
In April, Novo said in an investor call that the manufacturer had restarted production on Wegovi pens, setting expectations that all Wegovi power would be back in the U.S. in the second half of the year.
Novo Nordisk is so confident in its new weight-loss competitor that it recently lifted its obesity sales target by mid-decade. By 2025, Novo Nordisk is targeting more than 25 billion Danish kroner ($3.72 billion) in obesity sales. That’s a big jump from its previous 2025 target of 11.35 billion Danish kroner, which was based on 2019 sales of Novo’s weight-loss predecessor Saxenda.
