Novo Nordisk lifts 2026 outlook on stronger GLP-1 sales
Novo Nordisk has raised its full-year 2026 financial outlook after reporting second-quarter adjusted sales growth of 7% at constant exchange rates, with the improved trajectory driven by stronger-than-expected demand across its GLP-1 medicines.
The Bagsværd-headquartered company now expects full-year adjusted sales growth of between 0% and -6% at CER, a material improvement on the -4% to -12% range it guided to in May. Adjusted operating profit growth is forecast on the same 0% to -6% range. On a non-adjusted basis, the company noted that the mid-point of both sales and operating profit growth guidance for the full year would be 5% and 12% respectively, underscoring how significantly non-recurring charges have distorted the headline numbers.
Q2 adjusted operating profit reached DKK 33.4 billion, rising 11% at CER. The figures exclude a DKK 6.3 billion non-recurring, non-cash impairment charge taken in the quarter against intangible pipeline assets. That impairment included DKK 4.0 billion relating to monlunabant, the company's cannabinoid receptor 1 inverse agonist being investigated for obesity and metabolic conditions, signalling a significant reassessment of that asset's commercial prospects.
GLP-1 as the earnings engine
Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 franchise, anchored by semaglutide products including Ozempic and Wegovy, continues to carry the group's top-line performance even as the broader competitive landscape in the weight-loss and diabetes markets intensifies. Rival Eli Lilly's tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro and Zepbound, has been gaining market share across both diabetes and obesity indications, and several other players are advancing oral and injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists through late-stage trials. The ability of Novo Nordisk to raise guidance despite that competitive pressure suggests that overall category demand is still expanding faster than supply constraints and competitive erosion can offset.
The adjusted sales figures also exclude non-recurring provisions related to the 340B Drug Pricing Program in the US, a federal scheme that requires drugmakers to offer discounted medicines to certain healthcare providers. The 340B programme has been a source of ongoing legal and commercial friction for large pharmaceutical companies, and Novo Nordisk's decision to strip out its impact reflects the difficulty of forecasting that liability in any given quarter.
Regulatory and pipeline context
The monlunabant impairment is worth noting beyond its accounting effect. The asset had been positioned as a potential next-generation obesity therapy with a differentiated mechanism, and a write-down of this scale suggests the company is revising downward its view of the regulatory or clinical path for the molecule. This follows a broader industry pattern of caution around CNS-adjacent metabolic targets, where tolerability and cardiovascular safety data have historically proven difficult to predict in late-stage studies.
Novo Nordisk will host an investor conference call on 5 August 2026, where management is likely to face detailed questions on GLP-1 volume trends, the competitive response to tirzepatide, and the strategic implications of the monlunabant impairment. Full first-half financial results are published concurrently with this announcement.