Novo Nordisk: Expectations have increased

Novo Nordisk has claimed that expectations of the company have increased after revealing that sales during the first six months of 2006 rose by a fifth.

The Danish insulin specialist said sales of its insulin analogues had risen by some 59 per cent, while international sales increased by 41 per cent.

While human insulin and insulin-related products still accounted for the highest share of Novo Nordisk’s sales, the company’s biopharmaceuticals business, which includes growth hormones and NovoSeven, a haemophilia therapy, grew by 17 per cent. This business sector accounts for 24 per cent of the group’s sales.

Lars Rebien Sorensen, Novo Nordisk’s president and chief executive officer, stated: “Our business has performed very well in the first six months of 2006 in terms of both sales and production economics.”

“This enables us to upgrade the full-year growth expectations for both sales and operating profit,” he added.

Yesterday, Novo Nordisk said it had filed a lawsuit against Pfizer over an alleged infringement of patents for inhaled insulin technology. Novo Nordisk claims that Pfizer deliberately flouted patents when developing its Exubera product. Pfizer has said it believes Exubera to be a product based on original technology.

Novo Nordisk’s UK headquarters are in Crawley, West Sussex, where the company employs around 260 people. The UK business is in Novo Nordisk’s Europe North sector, which accounts for a quarter of European sales.

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