After struggling to keep up with patient demand for its weight-loss wonder drug Wegovy, Novo Nordisk said Monday that it is buying more manufacturing capacity.
Novo Holdings, the Danish drugmaker’s controlling shareholder, said it acquired New Jersey-based Catalent Inc. in a deal that values the contract manufacturer at $16.5 billion. Novo Nordisk, in turn, said it will acquire three manufacturing sites from Novo Holdings for $11 billion.
The deal “will enable us to serve significantly more people living with diabetes and obesity in the future,” Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Novo Nordisk’s chief executive, said in a statement. “The acquisition complements the significant investments we are already doing in active pharmaceutical ingredients facilities, and the sites will provide strategic flexibility to our existing supply network.”
The acquisition comes days after Novo executives said they had boosted Wegovy supplies enough to offer more starting doses to new patients, after curtailing such doses last year to ensure there would be enough for existing patients. The anti-obesity drug has been so popular that Novo hasn’t been able to churn out enough, leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to designate it in short supply.
Still, sales of Wegovy and its diabetes-drug cousin, Ozempic, helped supercharge Novo’s profits last year to the highest in decades. The two drugs use semaglutide, which mimics a hormone known as GLP-1, to suppress appetite by sending a signal to the brain that the stomach is full.
Novo has an existing collaboration with Catalent, which operates more than 50 sites globally. The drugmaker is acquiring three manufacturing sites that specialize in sterile drugs located in Italy, Belgium and Indiana, the company said.
“We look forward to benefiting from Novo Holdings’ significant resources to accelerate investment in our business,” Alessandro Maselli, Catalent’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Novo shares closed up 3.63 percent Monday on the Nasdaq Copenhagen index.
Source link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/02/05/novo-nordisk-catalent-wegovy-ozempic/