Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) has lifted its full-year 2026 guidance after reporting second-quarter adjusted sales of DKK 78.5 billion, reflecting 7% growth at constant exchange rates.
Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen described the result as a better-than-expected start to 2026, underpinning management’s decision to upgrade the company’s full-year outlook.
Lower realized prices, higher manufacturing costs, and unfavorable currency movements weighed on results, pushing the adjusted gross margin down to 78.2% from 82.7% in the prior-year period.
Chief Executive Officer Mike Doustdar said the company is now serving more than 46 million people with obesity and diabetes, marking a significant expansion in global patient reach.
Doustdar also noted that Novo Nordisk is treating nearly 5 million people with its obesity therapies, a figure roughly 70% higher than the same period a year earlier.
Oral Wegovy has emerged as a key growth driver, with Jamey Millar, executive vice president of U.S. Operations, reporting the pill exceeded 5 million total prescriptions since its U.S. launch six months ago.
Millar said weekly prescriptions for the oral Wegovy treatment reached 267,000 as of July 17, with the product capturing approximately 90% of the U.S. oral obesity-medication market despite new competition entering in early April.
Around 80% of oral Wegovy users were new to GLP-1 treatments, suggesting the pill is expanding the addressable patient population rather than simply cannibalizing existing injectable therapy users.
International obesity sales rose 37%, reinforcing the view that demand for the company’s weight-loss franchise remains robust well beyond the U.S. market.
On the pipeline front, Novo Nordisk completed its REDEFINE 9 trial of lower maintenance doses of CagriSema, reporting superior weight loss versus placebo and a safety and tolerability profile consistent with previous CagriSema studies.
Detailed data from the REDEFINE 9 trial are expected later this year, with the company continuing to target a U.S. regulatory decision on CagriSema in obesity near the end of 2026 and a potential launch in 2027.
The company did face a setback in its cardiovascular pipeline, as the ZEUS trial of ziltivekimab failed to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events, removing a potentially significant growth catalyst from the near-term outlook.
Novo Nordisk also flagged ongoing headwinds including expected U.S. sales declines, greater pricing pressure, reduced Medicaid coverage, and rising generic competition across parts of its broader portfolio.
The Danish pharmaceutical giant, headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, has built its global position on diabetes and metabolic health therapies since its modern formation through a 1989 merger of predecessor companies.
