Novo Nordisk announces 15% increase in sales

Novo Nordisk has announced its figures for the 2006 fiscal year, reporting a 15 per cent increase in reported sales to DKK38.74 billion (3.44 billion pounds). Net profit increased by ten per cent over 2005 figures, reaching DKK6,452 million, with earnings per share rising by 12 per cent to DKK19.99.

The company attributed this rise in revenues to the increase in sales of its insulin analogues, which grew by 48 per cent during 2006, while it stated that a rise in gross profits throughout the year was a result of improvements in product supply.

Lars Rebien Sorensen, president and chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, said: “We are very pleased with the results we have achieved in 2006. Sales of our key products, not least our modern insulins, went well in all major markets and we continue to see productivity improvements in product supply.”

He added that these robust financial figures would enable the company to make further investments in research and development, in addition to supplying funds for sales and marketing, leading the company to forecast strong financial figures for 2007.

Earlier this month, Novo Nordisk announced that it would halt its research and development into small molecules in order to focus its efforts on investigating therapeutic proteins.