Denmark's Novo Nordisk said on Wednesday it expects its business to grow at a slower pace in 2020 compared to last year, as it posted a slightly lower-than-expected quarterly operating profit.
Novo Nordisk, the world's top maker of diabetes drugs, said it expects sales to grow between 3% and 6% and operating profit to rise 1%-5% this year, both measured in local currencies. In comparison, last year both sales and operating profit rose by 6%.
Novo posted a fourth-quarter operating profit of 11.87 billion Danish crowns ($1.75 billion), compared to an average 11.96 billion crowns expected by analysts.
"We are very satisfied with the financial performance in 2019," Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said.
He added that the launch of its once-daily oral pill Rybelsus late last year in the U.S. market was "off to a good start."
Novo is betting on new treatments, including the first-of-its-kind tablet Rybelsus, to offset pricing pressure from competing insulins and U.S. lawmakers, who have been critical of rising drug costs.