Insulin maker Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) Wednesday reported higher profit for the first quarter, aided by strong growth in sales of both Diabetes care and Biopharmaceuticals products. The company raised the low end of its revenue outlook for the year.
Lars Rebien Sørensen, CEO, said, "We are pleased with the strong sales in the first quarter of 2013 driven by our portfolio of modern insulins and Victoza...In the US, we are in a constructive dialogue with the FDA on how to resolve the issues raised in the Complete Response Letter for Tresiba and Ryzodeg."
The company had received a complete response letter from the US Food and Drug Administration on February 10 regarding its New Drug Applications for 'new generation' insulin products Tresiba and Ryzodeg. The letter requests additional cardiovascular data from a dedicated cardiovascular outcomes trial, which the company said it does not expect to provide during 2013.
Net profit for the quarter increased to 5.982 billion Danish kroner ($1.06 billion) from 4.664 billion kroner in the prior year.
Operating profit increased 18 percent to 7.562 billion kroner.
Sales increased 13 percent to 19.98 billion kroner from 17.75 billion kroner and benefited from non-recurring events such as timing in shipments in the U.S. and International Operations, extraordinary sales in International Operations as well as a modest level of sales for NovoSeven in the previous year.
Diabetes care sales climbed 13 percent to 15.79 billion kroner with sales of modern insulins increasing 14 percent to 9 billion kroner and sales of type 2 diabetes therapy Victoza jumping 35 percent to 2.7 billion kroner.
Biopharmaceuticals were also 13 percent higher at 4.190 billion kroner with a 6 percent growth in NovoSeven sales and a 14 percent increase in Norditropin sales.
Sales in North America increased 23 percent to 9 billion kroner while sales in International Operations increased 13 percent to 3.09 billion kroner. Sales in China were 1.88 billion kroner, up 17 percent from the prior year.
For 2013, sales growth measured in local currencies is now expected to be 9-11 percent, whereas operating profit growth measured in local currencies is still expected to be around 10 percent.
The previous expectation was for sales growth measured in local currencies of 8-11 percent.
The increase in outlook reflects expectations for continued robust penetration for the portfolio of modern insulins, a continued steady Victoza performance and a modest sales contribution from Tresiba, primarily in the EU and Japan.
The stock rose 0.15 percent in Copenhagen on Tuesday to close at 993 kroner.
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