Although Sanofi’s report in itself was not impressive, growth in the company’s diabetes division was significant – and that bodes well for Novo Nordisk who submits their own Q2 report on August 8.

Following Sanofi’s report, the Swedish bank Nordea writes that it should be a contributing factor to respark investor interest in the Novo Nordisk share.

“It doesn’t become any less interesting by the most recent prescription numbers for the US market showing that Novo Nordisk continues to win market shares. The growth in prescriptions for Victoza in Q2 was at 6 % from Q1 and a staggering 31 % compared with Q2 2012. This growth has been secured in spite of all the fuzz about side effects,” Nordea writes.

AstraZeneca disappoints

The Swedish-British group AstraZeneca also submitted its Q2-report recently, showing a decline in both top and bottom line due to increased pressure from patent expirations.

“We recommend selling AstraZeneca (+0.4%), as the company said in [last week’s] financial statement that it could look forward to increased costs. Investors can look forward to declining profits in both 2013, 2014, and 2015. On that basis, we don’t expect the share to yield a significant return, although it is low-priced,” Nordea writes.

Nordea expects Novo to present a very strong Q2 report, but the bank also points out that there will always be a risk of disappointments. Nordea expects the much discussed GLP-1 drug, blockbuster Victoza, to account for 14 % of Novo nordisk’s total turnover.

- translated by Martin Havtorn Petersen

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