Wegovy pill rollout speeds up as Novo lifts 2026 outlook again

COPENHAGEN. Novo Nordisk has pulled its Wegovy pill rollout forward and now plans to sell the oral obesity drug in over 20 countries by mid 2027. The company disclosed the new timetable on November 4 alongside third quarter results that put Wegovy pill sales at DKK 5.39 billion, above analyst forecasts, according to Reuters. Novo also raised its 2026 outlook for the third time this year. The faster launch schedule is a company plan, not a result, and the revised outlook still allows for a full year decline.

Wegovy pill sales beat forecasts in the third quarter

The Wegovy pill brought in DKK 5.39 billion, or about $810 million, in the quarter to September 30, according to a Reuters report on Medical Dialogues. That was 53% more than in the second quarter and above a consensus estimate of DKK 4.62 billion. The tablet launched in the United States in January. By the end of September, patients in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates could also get it, and Novo said the count has since grown to eight markets. In the Novo Nordisk third quarter report, group adjusted sales were DKK 79.20 billion, up 4% at constant exchange rates. Adjusted operating profit rose 27% to DKK 31.72 billion. Novo said higher volumes, mainly of obesity drugs, drove the quarter in the United States and international markets.

Reported profit tells a weaker story than the adjusted figures. Reported operating profit fell 9% at constant exchange rates to DKK 23.01 billion, according to a summary of the interim report published by ad hoc news. Impairments that involved no cash outlay, totalling DKK 8.7 billion, weighed on that figure. Of that sum, DKK 4.6 billion related to the pipeline medicine ziltivekimab and DKK 4.1 billion to cutting back the manufacturing network. The adjusted comparison is also helped by the base period. A year earlier, the quarter absorbed transformation costs of DKK 9 billion across the company, which makes the 27% rise in adjusted operating profit look larger. Analysts had expected adjusted operating profit of DKK 28.39 billion, so the result still came in ahead of forecasts on that measure.

Why Novo moved the Wegovy pill rollout forward

Novo said strong factory output and quicker sign offs from regulators made the faster Wegovy pill rollout possible. The new target is a presence in over 20 countries by mid 2027, about half a year ahead of the end 2027 goal Novo gave investors in September. The reports reviewed for this story do not list the added countries or the order of launches. The plan covers launches only and says nothing about how fast each new market will grow. Each market still needs its own regulatory decision. In India, an expert committee asked Novo for local data before it would advise on oral Wegovy, which shows that national reviews can slow a launch plan.

The new target is a presence in over 20 countries by mid 2027, about half a year ahead of the end 2027 goal Novo gave investors in September.

Early uptake outside the United States is reported by the company only. By Novo's count, the tablet has roughly 90% of the British market for oral obesity drugs and 80% in the United Arab Emirates. In Germany, the company reported roughly 100,000 packs sold over the first six weeks of the launch, and said most patients had never used a GLP 1 medicine before. These shares cover oral products only, and they have not been checked independently. Reuters reported that the tablet accounts for roughly 6% of the sales Novo expects. Analysts still see it as the main route back to growth for Novo after two years of falling shares, profit warnings and a change of chief executive.

Novo Nordisk 2026 outlook still allows a decline

Under the new Novo Nordisk 2026 outlook, adjusted sales and adjusted operating profit should each land between a 2% drop and a 2% rise at constant exchange rates. The previous range ran from a 6% decline to flat. The company said the forecast assumes sales growth in international markets and a decline in the United States. This is the third time Novo has raised its full year forecast in 2026, and the range is a company projection rather than a result. Eli Lilly raised its own outlook the week before after beating profit estimates on strong demand for its weight loss injections. Reuters reported that Novo stock climbed by up to 6.6% early on November 4, heading for its largest one day rise since June 19.

Novo also announced a change in its finance team. Novo Nordisk CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen will leave at the end of December, and Galderma finance chief Luigi La Corte will succeed him, the company said. Analyst reactions split the next day, according to media reports cited by ad hoc news. UBS cut its price target while keeping a neutral rating, and BMO Capital raised its target while keeping a market perform rating. BMO analyst Evan Seigerman said US sales of the pill came in 17% above consensus, but he questioned whether Novo can keep that pace into 2027. Markus Manns of Union Investment, a Novo shareholder, told Reuters that the results show the new chief executive has stabilised the company.

Medicare obesity drug program and Foundayo shape US demand

Novo tied much of the recent rise in US pill volumes to one federal program. Novo's US head said a government scheme that since July lets older Americans on Medicare get obesity drugs for $50 a month was largely behind a roughly 20% rise in Wegovy pill volumes from the second quarter. Setting that Medicare obesity drug program aside, he said, the wider US class of obesity drugs showed almost no growth between May and October, which he put down to seasonal patterns. In the United States, sales of the Wegovy injection dropped 13% at constant exchange rates, while the injection and pill together grew 21%. Novo estimates the pill holds about 80% of US new to brand prescriptions, counting insured, self pay and telehealth patients, a figure that comes from the company.

Novo's chief executive says the company is watching Eli Lilly closely. Reuters reported that Lilly's rival oral GLP 1 drug Foundayo is taking a rising portion of new prescriptions. Mike Doustdar said Novo's own figures agree with Lilly's statement that about 7 in 10 Medicare seniors pick Lilly drugs, but that among seniors choosing a pill, 8 in 10 pick Novo. "We've been able to hold the baton," he said in an interview. Doustdar also told Reuters that semaglutide patent expiry is costing Novo market share in Brazil, while Novo has mostly kept its position in Canada and India. Markus Manns warned that "the competitive environment in the obesity market is likely to become increasingly challenging."

Conclusion

The next test of the Wegovy pill rollout comes at ObesityWeek in Washington from November 14 to 17, where Novo has said it will present 26 obesity abstracts, including real world data on the pill. Investors will then look to fourth quarter results for signs that new launches, rather than one Medicare program, are driving volume. Until more countries approve the drug, the faster Wegovy pill rollout remains a plan.