By Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk reported on Wednesday better-than-expected quarterly sales of its popular Wegovy weight-loss drug, reassuring investors worried the drugmaker was losing its lead in the fast-growing obesity drug market to U.S. rival Eli Lilly.

Shares in Novo Nordisk, a first mover in an obesity drug market that some analysts forecast could be worth about $150 billion by the early 2030s, were up 8.4% by 0940 GMT, among the biggest gainers in Europe. The share price jump added more than $40 billion to the company’s market value.

Sales of Wegovy totalled 17.3 billion Danish crowns ($2.5 billion) in the third quarter, ahead of the 15.9 billion expected by analysts in a company-compiled consensus and up 48% from the previous quarter.

But total group sales, which rose 21% to 71.3 billion crowns, came below the 72.3 billion crowns expected by analysts due to weaker-than-expected diabetes drug Ozempic sales.

The Danish company said U.S. sales growth was hurt by the phasing out of rebates – volume-based discounts negotiated by pharmaceutical companies with U.S. pharmacy benefit managers – in 2023.

Investors had feared the drugmaker would cut its outlook on Wednesday, so the third-quarter results came as somewhat of a relief, said Terence McManus, fund manager at Switzerland’s Bellevue Asset Management, which holds Novo shares.

“However, we don’t see these results as an all-clear signal on the stock,” he added, noting the company was due to release data before the end of this year from a late-stage trial of CagriSema, a two-drug combination obesity treatment that like Wegovy is injected.

Novo expects CagriSema to lead to greater weight loss than Wegovy’s 15% and analysts say this result is a must-win for Novo’s obesity-tackling investment case.

The Wegovy sales beat was a relief, though pricing pressure in the United States was slightly worse than they expected, analysts said.

Investors were nervous ahead of the results as Novo goes head to head with rival Eli Lilly which launched its drug Zepbound in December last year. Last week, Lilly posted results for its weight-loss sales that fell short of expectations.

Wegovy and Zepbound are part of a class of drugs that mimic an intestinal hormone called GLP-1, either on their own or in combination with compounds that target a second hormone to create a sense of fullness and reduce appetite.

Novo’s leading position in obesity drugs, coupled with ferocious demand which has outpaced supplies, helped make it Europe’s biggest company by market capitalisation last year. It is now worth $489 billion, but has lost 28% of its value since peaking in June.

OUTLOOK

Novo CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told a media briefing after the results that the company continued to see very significant demand for Wegovy in the United States and was working hard to increase its manufacturing capacity.

He did not say whether the company had lifted curbs on the lowest doses of Wegovy that have been in force since May 2023 to cope with overwhelming demand.

Wegovy has now been launched in more than 15 countries, the company said, but declined to name the additional nations since August when it said it was in 12 countries.

The drugmaker said it now expects sales growth this year of between 23% and 27% in local currencies, compared to the previously guided range for 22% to 28% growth.

It said the outlook reflected continued pricing pressure on its obesity and diabetes drugs and the costs of investing in expanding output of its existing drugs as well as in its pipeline of next generation obesity drugs.

Operating profit growth this year is now seen at between 21% and 27% in local currencies, compared to its previous forecast of 20% to 28%.

Novo has raised its 2024 sales growth outlook twice since the beginning of the year. In August, however, the company cut its expectations for operating profit growth.

It said operating profit between July and September rose 26% to 33.8 billion Danish crowns, a narrow beat on the 33.6 billion forecast by analysts.

($1 = 6.9430 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-PedersenAdditional reporting by Stine JacobsenEditing by Terje Solsvik, Josephine Mason, Tomasz Janowski and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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