Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk announced its financial report for the third quarter of 2024, with the company's star weight loss drug, Wegovy, achieving sales that exceeded market expectations, in stark contrast to its competitor, Eli Lilly, whose similar product did not fare as well in sales during the same period.

Boosted by the excellent financial report, Novo Nordisk's European stocks soared by 8.5% in the early morning trade. As of press time, the increase has moderated to 5.00%.

The financial report shows that Novo Nordisk's Q3 net sales were 71.31 billion kroner, a yearly increase of 21%, slightly below analysts' expectations of 72.3 billion kroner; net profit was 27.3 billion kroner, higher than the analysts' expected 26.79 billion kroner.

Novo Nordisk's revenue growth is mainly attributed to the sales of Wegovy, which achieved sales of 17.3 billion kroner in the third quarter, higher than the market expectation of 15.8 billion kroner.

Calculated at constant exchange rates, Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic achieved a year-on-year sales increase of 26% in the third quarter, reaching 29.8 billion kroner, slightly below the market expectation of 30.54 billion kroner.

Wegovy and Ozempic share the same active ingredient, semaglutide. Similarly, Eli Lilly's weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro share the same ingredient, tirzepatide.

These four drugs all belong to the GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) drug class. The difference lies in the fact that Mounjaro and Ozempic are approved for the treatment of diabetes, while Zepbound and Wegovy focus on weight loss. These drugs work by suppressing patients' appetite and slowing down the emptying speed of the stomach to achieve weight loss.

Before Novo Nordisk announced its performance, analysts were worried that lower pricing and lower prescription volumes would affect the sales of the company's weight loss drugs. Last week, Eli Lilly's financial report showed that the sales of its popular diabetes and weight loss drugs were below market expectations, which further intensified analysts' concerns about Novo Nordisk's performance.

So far this year, Novo Nordisk's stock price has increased by more than 7% in Nasdaq, far behind Eli Lilly's increase of about 39% during the same period. This is because Eli Lilly's market share in the weight loss and diabetes drug market is gradually increasing, while the prescription volume of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy is lower than expected.