Novo Nordisk beats profit estimates as sales of weight loss drug Wegovy more than double

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, which became the most valuable company in Europe last year due to the blockbuster success of its weight loss drugs, on Thursday beat profit estimates for the first quarter.

Net profit rose 28% year-on-year to 25.4 billion Danish kroner ($3.65 billion), versus analyst expectations of 23.7 billion kroner, according to LSEG data.

Sales of popular weight loss drug Wegovy more than doubled to 9.38 billion kroner.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.