Weighty Wegovy sales help Novo Holdings double income and returns in 2024

London — Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk, nearly doubled annual income and investment returns to a record €8bn in 2024, it said on Wednesday.

Fuelled by dividends from blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, Novo Holdings is a life sciences investment powerhouse that manages assets for the Novo Nordisk Foundation, one of the world’s biggest philanthropic bodies.

“2024 was a very strong year for Novo Holdings, with our investment portfolio delivering its best-ever performance,” CEO Kasim Kutay said in a statement.

Kutay said the company would focus this year on expanding its presence in Asia, with the opening of an office in Mumbai, India following significant investments it already made in the country last year.

Its portfolio comprises investments in life sciences and a broad range of assets — equities, bonds, real estate, infrastructure and private equity. It has controlling stakes in Novo Nordisk, in which it has 77% of voting shares, and Novonesis.

In 2024, it invested €4.6bn in life sciences targeting cancer, obesity and neurodegenerative disorders, adding 43 new companies while making 27 exits. Novo Holdings’ biggest acquisition by far last year was of pharma manufacturing and services company Catalent for $16.5bn, the largest healthcare buyout in 2024.

It subsequently sold three Catalent manufacturing plants to Novo Nordisk for $11bn to boost Wegovy production.

But Novo Holdings’ total assets under management dropped slightly to €142bn in 2024, from €149bn in 2023, driven by a decline in the market value of Novo Nordisk. Its market value has roughly halved since July 2024, partly because of investor worries that it has lost its first-mover advantage in the fiercely competitive obesity drug market to US rival Eli Lilly.

Reuters