COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s Novo Nordisk on Monday said that its recently approved obesity drug Wegovy could eat into sales of its existing obesity drug Saxenda, in the United States.
“There is of course a risk of some cannibalisation between Wegovy and Saxenda and lower initial value per script, while we build the access for Wegovy,” Novo’s executive vice president of commercial strategy, Camilla Sylvest, told an investor briefing on Monday.
“Our focus is to start new patients on Wegovy rather than switching patients currently benefiting from Saxenda,” Sylvest added.
A 2.4 milligram dosage of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday under the name of Wegovy, and will be launched on June 10.
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard, editing by Louise Heavens)
