Novo Nordisk reports strong growth in first nine months of 2015

Novo Nordisk has announced its financial results for the first nine months of 2015, during which it generated a sales total of 79.1 billion Danish kroner (7.62 billion pounds).

This represented a year-on-year increase of nine percent in local currency terms, while its local currency-adjusted operating profit growth was 16 percent. It saw double-digit sales increases for key products like Victoza and Levemir.

Key milestones achieved during the quarter include the securing of US regulatory approval for its new drug Tresiba, which will now be launched in the territory in early 2016.

The preliminary outlook for 2016 in local currencies indicates mid to high single-digit growth in sales, with operating profit levels set to increase at a similar pace.

Lars Rebien Sorensen, president and chief executive officer at Novo Nordisk, said: "We are satisfied with the results of the first nine months of 2015. Sales growth was primarily driven by Victoza, aided by the high growth of the GLP-1 market."

This comes after Mr Sorensen was recently named the best-performing chief executive in the world by the Harvard Business Review.