Novo Nordisk prolongs job losses and profits are lagging behind

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), the world's largest manufacturer of diabetes medications, reported a slightly lower-than-expected operating profit Thursday, and announced further job cuts to address price pressures in the key US market.

The company had already announced a restructuring and hundreds of job cuts, but announced Thursday that it would reduce its workforce by 1,300 by the end of 2018 and that most of these cuts had already been made .

Novo's bestseller, Victoza, a drug called GLP-1 that mimics an intestinal hormone to boost insulin production, reached 6.1 billion crowns in the third quarter, more than the expected 5.9 billion the analysts.

The GLP-1 franchise, owned by Victoza, is the main driver of Novo's growth, as its insulin-based medicines are under pressure from pricing and biosimilar competition.

The company has reduced its forecast of sales growth for 2018 to 3-5% from previous rates of 3-5% and has maintained its growth outlook for operating profit at 2-5%, both measured in local currencies.

Novo has announced that it has extended its share buyback program from 1 billion crowns to 15 billion crowns. This year, free cash flow now stands at 29.33 billion crowns, compared with the previous forecast of 27 billion to 32 billion crowns.

The company announced a quarterly operating profit of 11.81 billion crowns, lower than the average forecast of 11.93 billion crowns announced by Reuters analysts.