Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) announced that the company will first launch its combination diabetes drug, Xultophy, in Switzerland.
Xultophy is a single injection combination of Tresiba (basal insulin) and Victoza (a GLP-1 analogue), which has to be administered once-daily, independent of meals. The drug is approved for use in type II diabetes patients who show inadequate control with oral glucose-lowering treatments (used individually or with basal insulin).
We remind investors that Xultophy was approved in Switzerland on Sep 12, 2014. This was followed by the drug’s approval in all 28 countries of the EU within the same month. Novo Nordisk intends to commercialize Xultophy in other European countries in 2015.
We note that a number of products in Novo Nordisk’s franchise are slated to lose patent protection in the upcoming years. NovoMix will lose patent protection in 2014–2015 in the EU and in 2017 in the U.S., NovoRapid in 2017 (in both the U.S. and the EU), and Levemir in 2018 in the EU and in 2019 in the U.S. In this context, the approval and subsequent launch of Xultophy in Europe is expected to support top-line growth.
Meanwhile, Saxenda has received FDA approval as the first once-daily human glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue for the treatment of obesity. Novo Nordisk intends to launch the drug in the U.S. in the first half of 2015. Saxenda is currently under review by the European Medicines Agency for the same indication.
We expect investor focus to remain on further updates from the company.
Novo Nordisk carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the health care sector are Endo International plc (ENDP), Biodel Inc. (BIOD) and AbbVie Inc. (ABBV). While Endo and Biodel carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), AbbVie holds a Zacks Rank#2 (Buy).
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