Intensified competition in the weight loss drug market led to underwhelming Q2 earnings from Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) and a downward revision of full-year guidance.

Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) announced disappointing second-quarter results Wednesday and lowered its full-year operating profit forecast. The data showed Novo Nordisk's Q2 net profit at DKK20.5bn ($2.93bn), below the market's expected DKK20.9bn.

Wegovy, the company's top-selling weight-loss drug, saw sales up 55 per cent to DKK11.66bn in the second quarter, after more than doubling to DKK9.38bn in the first quarter, but below analysts' expectations.

Novo Nordisk has also lowered its full-year operating profit forecast for 2024 to a range of 20 per cent to 28 per cent growth, from the previous forecast of 22 per cent to 30 per cent.

The company, which makes Wegovy, announced a 28 per cent rise in its net profit for the first quarter of 2024, to DKK25.4bn, and raised its sales and operating profit growth forecasts.

The company has also raised its full-year sales growth forecast for 2024, to a range of 22 per cent to 28 per cent (on a constant currency basis), from the previous forecast of 19 per cent to 27 per cent.

Novo Nordisk is facing increasing competition in the weight-loss space, from both smaller companies and from rivals such as Roche. Roche announced positive results from a trial of its oral weight-loss drug last month, which sent the weight-loss drug sector tumbling, with LVMH's (LVMH.FR) and Novo Nordisk falling 4 per cent.

Novo Nordisk's Wegovy has also had some positive news recently. The drug was approved in China in the second quarter, opening up the world's second-largest economy to sales. The UK and EU medical regulators have backed Wegovy to lower the risk of serious heart disease in overweight or obese adults.