Novo Nordisk CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar waits for the start of the pharmaceutical company’s annual general meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 26, 2026.
Tom Little | Reuters
U.S.-traded shares of Novo Nordisk dropped more than 5% on Tuesday after the Danish drugmaker released guidance that appeared to disappoint investors.
The company hiked its 2026 outlook, saying it expects adjusted sales to be down 6% to flat at constant exchange rates. Novo Nordisk previously said it anticipated adjusted sales would fall between 4% to 12%.
The drugmaker also said it expects adjusted operating profit to be in a range of down 6% to flat. It had previously anticipated that metric would drop between 4% to 12%, as well.
Novo Nordisk also announced key financial metrics for the second quarter and first half of 2026, ahead of an expected earnings release on Wednesday. Eli Lilly, its lead rival in the booming market for GLP-1 drugs, will also post quarterly results on Wednesday.
The Danish drugmaker said second-quarter sales rose to 78.49 billion kroner ($12.09 billion), up 3% in constant currency. On an adjusted basis, sales climbed 7% during the period.
Meanwhile, adjusted operating profit rose 11% in constant currency to 33.39 billion kroner.
The results come after Novo Nordisk launched a pill version of its Wegovy weight loss drug — beating Eli Lilly to the market — and a higher-dose version of its Wegovy injection during the first half of the year. The pill has now topped 5 million prescriptions since its launch in January, CEO Mike Doustdar said in a statement Tuesday.
Those rollouts have helped Novo Nordisk regain its footing in the GLP-1 market after Eli Lilly established a market share lead on the strength of its Zepbound and Mounjaro injections.
