Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant, has announced that its diabetes drug Victoza and synthetic insulin products helped boost overall business during the second quarter of 2012.
The world’s largest insulin producer said that sales of Victoza and modern insulins – synthetic rather than older-generation human hormones – both exceeded forecasts, rising 83 per cent and 23 per cent respectively over the three months.
The strong figures for its key products helped push total second-quarter sales up by 22 per cent to 19.47 billion kroner (roughly £), and deliver a second-quarter net profit of 5.35 billion kroner – an increase of 29 per cent on last year’s figure.
“We are very satisfied with the financial performance in the first half of 2012, driven by a continued strong performance of our modern insulins and Victoza,” Novo chief executive, Lars Rebien Sorense, commented.
The company said it now expects full-year sales growth of 9-12 per cent instead of a previous forecast range of 8-11 per cent, pushing operating profit growth up from at least 10 per cent to a revised forecast of 15 per cent.
It also revealed that phase three research data for its combination type 2 diabetes treatment IDegLira showed the benefits of Victoza combined with Tresiba, an ultra-long-acting basal insulin from Novo Nordisk for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes .
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