Earning 126.4 billion in just six months! Simeglutide kicks K drug and firmly sits on the throne of global medicine king
1、 Core performance: Simeglutide becomes the "global pharmaceutical king", driving overall growth
Overall revenue: The company's total revenue for the first half of the year was approximately 173.8 billion yuan (RMB) and 154.9 billion Danish kroner (approximately 160.2 billion RMB), respectively. The core growth driver came from the obesity treatment business, with sales in this area increasing by 56% year-on-year in Danish kroner terms.
Coronation of "Drug King": Smeglutide (including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus for diabetes) had sales of 126.4 billion yuan (RMB) in the first half of the year, surpassing Pabolizumab (K drug, with sales of 108.8 billion yuan in the same period), the "Drug King" for two consecutive years, and becoming the drug with the highest sales in the world.
Segmented product performance: Wegovy injection for weight loss showed the most significant growth, with a year-on-year increase of 78% in sales in the first half of the year; The injection for lowering blood sugar (Ozempic) increased by 15% year-on-year; The oral version (Rybelsus) increased by 5% year-on-year.
2、 Market Heat: Celebrity Effect and Exploration of New Indications
Celebrity endorsement: Simeglutide has received high attention for its weight loss effects, with the world's richest man Musk, UK Prime Minister Johnson, actor Kolo Kardashian, and others openly acknowledging its use. Its mechanism of "prolonging satiety to achieve weight loss" has been widely recognized.
Anti aging potential: Recent clinical trials have shown that semaglutide can reverse the biological age of some subjects' hearts and brains by nearly 5 years in patients with HIV related lipid metabolism abnormalities (an ideal anti-aging evaluation model for this population with accelerated aging), providing a new direction for anti-aging medicine.
But the research team emphasizes that it is currently only targeted at specific populations and has not been proven effective for all populations, so it is too early to use it for anti-aging purposes.
3、 New development: The approval of the oral version of Wegovy has entered a critical period. Novo Nordisk has submitted a marketing application for the oral version of the weight loss drug Wegovy to the US FDA, and is expected to receive approval results in the fourth quarter of 2025.
If approved, it will become the world's first GLP-1 receptor agonist oral medication for chronic weight management, providing patients with a more convenient way of use.
4、 Hidden worries and challenges
Adjustment of performance expectations: the company lowered its revenue and operating profit expectations for 2025 due to slower growth in the obesity market in the United States, slower expansion of GLP-1 drugs in the diabetes market, and lower than expected penetration in overseas markets.
Illegal drug shock: Despite the end of the grace period for illegally formulated drugs by the US FDA, counterfeit semaglutide sold under the name of "personalized customization" continues to exist.
Channel performance fell short of expectations: The NovoCare Pharmacy and Remote Medical Collaboration project, launched in March 2025, only issued about 11000 prescriptions for weight loss semaglutide per week, with a retail cash channel of about 20000, resulting in a lower than expected penetration rate.
