Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drugs may have been the center of attention during its first-quarter earnings call, but the company’s broader diabetes portfolio beat its target for a greater global market stake one year early.
Camilla SylvestOver the past 12 months, Novo’s share in the diabetes market has grown from 32.2% to 34%, which “is above our [original] strategic aspiration,” head of commercial strategy and corporate affairs Camilla Sylvest said on Thursday’s investor call. During its Capital Markets Day in 2019, Novo set the goal of securing one-third of the global diabetes market by 2025.
The Danish drugmaker also said Thursday it is preparing for a scheduled adcomm meeting for a diabetes drug that some analysts have described as overlooked.
Besides Novo, Sanofi and Eli Lilly are among the top diabetes companies by revenue. The diabetes drug market is set to be worth at least $89 billion by 2028, according to Statista.
Novo is looking to maintain its hold with an upcoming EU decision for its insulin icodec drug candidate, which won a positive opinion from CHMP in March for both forms of diabetes mellitus.
The once-weekly injection could make treatment more convenient for people with diabetes who would otherwise have to take basal insulin every day. In March, TD Cowen analysts wrote that insulin icodec “may be underappreciated by investors.”
The drug is also the subject of an FDA adcomm meeting scheduled for May 24. The agency pushed back an original decision date in April in light of new data that it described as a “major amendment.”
Martin Holst Lange“The meeting will focus on the risk benefit profile of icodec in the treatment of type 1 diabetes,” head of development Martin Holst Lange said.
In CHMP’s summary of opinion for icodec, the committee wrote that “hypoglycaemic events are more common compared to daily basal insulin” in patients with type 1 diabetes. It added that the drug “will mainly be used in patients with type 2 diabetes and should only be used in patients with type 1 diabetes for which a clear benefit of a once-weekly administration is expected.”
Icodec is already approved in Canada and Switzerland with the brand name Awiqli.
Novo has combined icodec with semaglutide in a once-weekly drug candidate dubbed IcoSema, which is designed for patients whose type 2 diabetes is inadequately controlled with GLP-1 drugs. In February, IcoSema demonstrated non-inferiority to once-daily insulin glargine U100 and insulin aspart in a Phase 3a trial of 679 subjects.
GLP-1 drugs made up the majority of Novo’s Q1 diabetes sales, with Ozempic, Victoza and Rybelsus bringing in 34.9 billion Danish kroner ($5 billion). The company is dealing with continued GLP-1 supply issues due to extraordinary demand. Its insulin franchise sales were more modest at 14.4 billion Danish kroner ($2.1 billion).
Overall, Novo’s diabetes care sales increased 24% at constant exchange rates in the first three months of 2024 from the same period last year, to 49.9 billion Danish kroner ($7.2 billion). This rate of growth is “faster than the total diabetes market,” Sylvest said.