Pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk rakes in record £4.5BILLION due to success of its game-changing weight loss jabs Ozempic and Wegovy

• Danish pharma titan Novo Nordisk raked in £4.5billion in the first half of 2023
• Bosses of the firm credited sky-high demand for its weekly semaglutide jabs

Ozempic’s maker today announced its profits have reached record high thanks to the huge success of its game-changing weight loss jabs.

Danish pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk raked in £4.5billion during the first half of 2023 — up by a third, or £1.3billion , on the previous spell.

Bosses of the firm credited sky-high demand for its weekly semaglutide jabs, proven to help overweight patients lose up to 21lbs in just over a year. Doctors are giving the drug to ‘more patients than ever before’, Novo Nordisk said. 

But intense demand, now being felt across the world, is causing huge supply issues.

Wegovy, another version of semaglutide, has yet to officially launch in the UK.  

Semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy to those who are overweight or obese

Celebrities including Elon Musk, Jeremy Clarkson and Remi Bader have spoke out about the ‘genuinely incredible’ Ozempic, which suppresses appetite and leaves users feeling fuller

Danish pharmaceutical titan Novo Nordisk raked in £4.5billion during the first half of 2023 — up by a third, or £1.3billion , on the previous spell

Novo Nordisk anticipates huge demand and wants to shore up stock before it gets handed out, MailOnline understands.

It will only be given to overweight people, unlike Ozempic which is licenced solely for diabetics.

The firm is also restricting supply in the US, as the company struggles to keep up with demand. 

Semaglutide works by hijacking the brain to suppress appetite and reduce calorie intake, resulting in substantial weight loss. It does this by mimicking the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is released after eating.

It was nicknamed Hollywood’s worst kept secret when it burst onto the scene, with fans including Elon Musk and Jeremy Clarkson.

READ MORE: What IS semaglutide? Everything you need to know about weight loss wonder drug loved by Hollywood stars like Kim Kardashian

Even Kim Kardashian was rumoured to have used it to rapidly lose 16lbs (7.3kg) to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ dress at the 2022 Met Gala.

Novo Nordisk’s financial report for the first half of 2023 show it made a net profit of 39.2billion Danish kroner (£4.5bllion) up from 27.5billion kroner (£3.2billion) the previous year.

The company — Europe’s second most valuable listed company behind luxury goods company LVMH — said the trend was ‘mainly driven by’ a 49 per cent boost in sales for its GLP-1 diabetes drugs. 

In total, sales for these drugs totalled 99billion kroner (£11.5billion).

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, said: ‘We are very pleased with the sales growth in the first half of 2023. 

‘The growth is driven by increasing demand for our GLP-1-based diabetes and obesity treatments, and we are serving more patients than ever before.’

He added that obesity is a ‘serious chronic disease’ and weight-related conditions ‘can be significantly reduced by treating people with semaglutide’.

It comes after a study this week of 17,600 people showed that overweight or obese adults who take Wegovy are a fifth less likely to suffer heart attacks and strokes. 

Wegovy and Ozempic, which both contain semaglutide, work by triggering the body to produce a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 that is released naturally from the intestines after meals

Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson (left) revealed this month that he was taking Ozempic in a bid to lose weight. When asked in October whether following a healthier diet or hitting the gym was behind his 30lb (13.6kg) weight loss, Elon Musk (right) credited ‘fasting’ and ‘Wegovy’

READ MORE: Weight loss drug can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes in high-risk patients by a FIFTH with just an injection, major trial suggests

The weekly injection reduced their risk of a major cardiovascular event like a stroke or heart attack by 20 percent compared to a placebo, Novo said 

Trial results show that nine in 10 Wegovy-users lose five per cent of their body weight over the course of 68 weeks, while three in 10 lose a fifth.

Participants also slashed their calorie intake and upped the amount of exercise they were doing.

However, like all medication, it has side effects. 

Headaches, vomiting and diarrhoea are among the most common. Some also suffer from acid reflux, fatigue and complain that food tastes different after using the drug.

It is this side effect that some people credit for further assisting their weight loss — by making their favourite junk foods taste bad.

Other rarer side effects include gallstones, inflammation of your pancreas — known medically as pancreatitis — and an increased risk of low blood sugar and kidney problems. 

The jab is also being investigated over fears it causes cancer after studies in mice and rats suggested that semaglutide could raise the risk of medullary thyroid cancer.

Trials have shown that users can rapidly pile pounds back on once they stop taking the fat-fighting drug.

In March, Wegovy was approved by the UK’s medicines watchdog for up to 4million Brits who have one weight-related condition and a BMI of 30 or higher.

The drug has been available for weight management in the US since 2021 but is yet to launch in the UK due to supply difficulties. 

Despite being hailed as one of the most powerful pharmaceutical tools to date, experts have warned it is not a ‘magic pill’ or miracle fix all. Trials have shown that users can rapidly pile pounds back on once they stop taking the fat-fighting drug and it can trigger a variety of nasty side effects. Users commonly complain of nausea, constipation and diarrhoea after taking the medication

A UK study found that people who used Wegovy experienced rapid weight loss, dropping 18% of their weight over 68 weeks. They regained two-thirds of that weight, or 12% of their original body weight in the year after dropping the weekly injections. Experts says the drug needs to be used over a lifetime to keep off the pounds

Meanwhile, Ozempic is given to type 2 diabetics to help control their blood glucose levels.

However, because it uses the same ingredient, it can spur on weight loss.

But the clamour for semaglutide as a weight loss medication has seen doctors and pharmacists prescribe the diabetes drug to people who just want to lose weight.

Health officials issued an alert last month warning that it ‘strongly discouraged’ off-label prescribing for those seeking to shift the scales, as it could leave diabetes patients without their vital medication.

Amid difficulties keeping up with demand, Novo Nordisk confirmed it would continue limiting Wegovy supplies in the US to ensure there is enough doses for existing patients. 

Mr Jorgensen said: ‘We’ve seen that the initiative we took earlier this year, limiting the starter dose, has actually helped manage those dynamics. So we want to extend that in the coming quarters.’

Source: Read Full Article