Novo Nordisk (NOVO-B) hit by drop in insulin sales in China
13:25, 26 November 2021
Danish diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk said on Friday that it expects its sales growth to slow by around 3% in 2022 as a result of lower prices and a drop in insulin sales volumes in China.
It comes after the company received the results from the volume-based procurement (VBP) tender for insulin in China.
“The Chinese National Healthcare Security Administration has tendered insulin sold at hospitals, and Novo Nordisk has participated in the tender. All Novo Nordisk’s insulin was included in the tender except for Ryzodeg and Xultophy,” it said in its update.
Stock in the company was down 1.07% on Friday afternoon following its announcement.
Novo Nordisk said it will provide the financial outlook for 2022 in connection with the announcement of the full-year 2021 results on 2 February next year.
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals acquisition
The update also comes just a few days after the company announced it was acquiring Dicerna Pharmaceuticals.
“The acquisition of Dicerna’s ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform is a strategic addition to Novo Nordisk’s existing research technology platforms and supports the strategy of using a broad range of technology platforms applicable across all Novo Nordisk’s therapeutic focus areas,” it said in a press release on 18 November.
In 2019, Novo Nordisk entered a research collaboration with Dicerna to discover and develop RNAi therapies using Dicerna’s proprietary GalXC RNAi platform technology.
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Clinical collaboration
It said the collaboration between Novo Nordisk and Dicerna encompassed the exploration of more than 30 liver cell targets with the potential to deliver multiple clinical candidates for disorders including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), type 2 diabetes, obesity and rare diseases.
Novo Nordisk said it expects to initiate clinical development with the first target in 2022.
However, the company said the transaction will not impact its previously communicated operating profit outlook for 2021 or the ongoing share buyback programme. The transaction will mainly be debt financed, it added.
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