Novo Nordisk is scaling Wegovy supply 'significantly': CFO

Intro Nova nordish shares off just about 5 and a half% in the pre-market the company trimming its operating at profit outlook for the full year but it did raise its sales guidance and that was boosted by strong demand for its weight loss drugs our Healthcare reporter unel Kaman has been tracking this joining us now with more High hey shaa that's right we know that of course the results are out and the company did report for 3.8 billion um in Revenue compared to the estimates of 4.1 billion and that came from Miss in wovi sales and to discuss all of that we have on with us the CFO of nov nordest Carston monk new Carson really good to see you again really kind of a mixed picture with this quarter I know the stock you know the the Wall Street is clearly reacting one way about it you've called this a blip in the quarter based on rebates uh manufacturing uh constraints as well as competition and pricing for sales what can you tell us uh you know about how you think about Q2 performance Wall Street reacting to this good good morning and thank you for having me on your on your show and uh and yes uh I called the blip and uh and and the starting point on on our side is that we believe we we delivered a really strong set of accounts uh for for the second quarter we're growing the company 25% in in in the first half uh which is uh top end of of the industry and uh and we raised our fully Outlook uh Topline wise uh also buy a couple of percentage points so so overall performance of of the company really strong and yes then uh then the market took our shares down linked to even higher expectations for vovi in the quarter and uh the reason why I called a blip is that uh that uh the underlying Trends are really strong and and with the razor fully Outlook uh then investors should be very comfortable in in in performance of of the company you've also pulled back on label expansion for wovi that's just just another hit for the product itself um I know that there's also you know a delay on that respect how is that going to impact longer term revenue and how should we be thinking about that for wovi sales well right right now uh demand is is greater than uh than supply for for vovi and and overall for for the Obesity Market uh given the significant unmet needs uh we are scaling voui as as we speak already significantly so so we have H we have doubled the number of doses we are supplying into the market compared to the beginning of the year so so significant scaling T taking place and and now we we have launched in 12 markets outside North America also so so we are gradually rolling out and the fact that we resour our capacity constraint means that that the delay on on the heart failure data which which are really compelling uh does not have any material impact because we had a dialogue with the fga and uh and and based on that dialogue uh uh we have decided to to pull our file in order to have additional data uh based on hard end points from some of our other trials so we'll be resubmitting the file uh in the beginning of next year and and it's not going to have any impact on our top line given the current situation all right and we have also got new concerns from North Carolina asking the US Health Department to license your products the gp1 products in particular in order to Licensing help ease uh the constraints on access and help bring more affordable options to Market I know you've already been facing the compounding problem in light of the fact that you're still facing shortages does this sound like an option that Nova would be willing to consider so so first of all this uh this really starts with the premise that the Innovation uh generated by by no nor researchers years ago are really making a significant difference uh for the large un unmet need and and the large number of of patients suffering from from obesity uh and that uh that granted us of patent protection according to to the general rules and uh and and we're maxing out in terms of Supply so so so we are really supplying as much as we're able to to to produce uh and uh and no we we're not interested in in in licensing and even if we did the time time to construct any alternative measures would not be faster than than what we already doing in in terms of constructing additional capacity so so we don't believe that that is an an appropriate Way Forward yeah definitely and then finally you do have another area where the US government is looking at you and that is on the uh pulling levir the insulin product off the US market I know it's been down really quarter over quarter and year-over year down 31% there so what is the message lawmakers I know novo's had a a meeting Message to lawmakers set up with them yeah F first of all H continu care is is is a key priority for for non Oris so patients relying on on no Oris medicines uh for for their outcomes is a key priority for for us as company so so we don't uh take any portfolio choices lightly in in the case of Liv in the US we're in a situation where where the product has has been marginalized or over the last 5 10 years uh through aggressive uh price demands from uh from payers so pricing has really come down market share has come down so so the products market share is is now now below 10% in in the basil segment and and then with a with a lot of other products available in in the segment uh our choice was uh to to discontinue the product in in the US in order to use our resources both in the market and supply chain wise even more productively so so so so this allocation means that we'll be able to reach even more patients than than the alternative and we work with the portfolio so so we have a number of Alternatives in our own portfolio and competition also offers products U for that market segment and I say finally L is is out of patent so so now now now now you spoke about a license so so if if anyone would would be up for producing lir then it's it's it's off patents definitely and and to your point the numbers make sense and tell the story we'll have to leave it there Carson but really pleasure speaking with you again thank you so much for joining us today Carson monk nudson CFO of Nova Nordisk thank you for having me