(Sharecast News) - Shares in Denmark's Novo Nordisk sparked on Wednesday after sales of its new fat-busting pill smashed forecasts.
Updating on first-quarter trading, the drugs giant said total weekly prescriptions of the Wegovy pill - which launched in the US on 5 January - exceeded 200,000, with sales in the three months to 31 March reaching DKK2.26bn, nearly double analyst forecasts.

It continued: "Coupled with total prescriptions for the first quarter of around 1.3m and more than 2m since launch, it marks the strongest ever GLP-1 volume launch in the US."

As a result, group net sales rose 32% on a constant-currency basis in the first quarter, to DKK96.82bn while net adjusted operating profits came in at DKK32.86bn, comfortably ahead of consensus for DKK 28.74bn.

Novo Nordisk also slightly improved its full-year outlook. It now expects adjusted sales and operating profit declines of 4% to 12%, compared to a previous range of -5% to -13%.

As at 1145 BST, the Copenhagen-stock had put on 7%, while its New York-listed shares were also 7% higher in pre-market trading.

Mike Doustdar, chief executive, said: "Wegovy is driving a strong start to 2026 for Novo Nordisk.

"As the global momentum behind peptide-based therapies accelerates, Wegovy pill is defining a novel category as the only oral peptide for the treatment of obesity, seeing a new benchmark for what patients and physicians can expect."

Novo Nordisk, which also owns Ozempic, initially saw revenues and profit soar when its novel fat-busting drugs first came to market. However, since then competition has ramped up as rivals launch their own versions, while it has also faced various headwinds, including changes to US drug pricing.

It plans to launch the Wegovy pill outside the US in the second half.

• News Channel