Novo Reports

Novo Reports

Consistency is the word that best describes the results Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) released this morning. The company continues to hold and expand their share of the insulin market while pushing forward with several new products which should help them maintain their position in the future.

 Looking over the results Diabetic Investor was struck by a statement made in today’s press release; “In the US market, the amount of insulin delivered in prefilled and durable devices is increasing but is still only approaching 20% measured in volume and 30% measured in value.”  The increasing popularity of insulin pens, both durable and prefilled, plays right into Novo’s strength. While Lilly (NYSE:LLY) and Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE:SNY) have upgraded their pen offerings, Novo has long been the leader here.

 This strength in delivery devices will also serve the company well when liraglutide, their once-daily GLP-1 comes to market. The fact is physicians are more aggressively treating their patients with diabetes and the success of Byetta from Amylin (NASDAQ:AMLN) proves that type 2 patients are not opposed to injectable therapy options. As Diabetic Investor has been saying all along solid control and weight loss trump injection fears. 

Diabetic Investor sees the market for injectable therapy options not only expanding in the future but evolving into a battle of who has the most patient friendly delivery device. Just as patients prefer easy to use glucose monitors, the same is true with insulin or GLP-1 delivery devices. This preference for pen delivery devices will expand into needle technology as well. It wouldn’t surprise Diabetic Investor at all if Novo and their competitors began to focus more of their marketing efforts on needles. The fact is needle technology has evolved over the years making injections far less painful. Ask almost any patient who injects and they will tell you that it’s actually more painful to check their glucose levels than it is to inject their insulin or GLP-1. 

All in all Novo continues to demonstrate they have the complete package. It’s also true that the trend towards greater insulin usage and effectiveness of GLP-1 therapy bodes well for the future. The company does have an occasional misstep and has a tendency to move slowly when bringing new products to market however, these two small negatives are far outweighed by their ability to consistently deliver solid results.