Annual Report 2025

Commercial execution

Competing
where it counts

Raveena Gujja lives with obesity in India.

The world is facing a cardiometabolic health crisis. Serious chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes are reshaping societies, straining health systems and intensifying calls for accessible, high-quality products and care.

We are not standing still. Our commercial strategy is built for real‑world impact: expanding access, protecting patient safety and competing where it counts. Guided by our purpose of driving change to defeat serious chronic diseases, we bring scale, speed and responsibility to the challenge, reaching 45.6 million people living with obesity and diabetes in 2025.

Central to this approach is defending and expanding our leadership in the increasingly competitive market for GLP-1 therapies, where we hold close to 43% market share of global volumes. Powered by semaglutide, these game-changing medicines address two of the world’s most pressing health challenges: obesity, impacting over 1 billion people worldwide, and diabetes, affecting around 600 million. Semaglutide is the only molecule that demonstrates cardiovascular protection in both diseases. Our portfolio spans injectable and oral options with FDA‑approved indications to reduce risk of heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular (CV) death – giving us unmatched therapeutic breadth.

We are acting urgently to strengthen our portfolio through targeted investment in next‑generation therapies and business development. Our pipeline across obesity, type 2 diabetes and related comorbidities continues to advance, whilst we enhance optionality by tailoring solutions to individual needs. Building this market taught us that what works for diabetes does not necessarily work for obesity – people with obesity have different concerns, different needs and often prefer more discreet ways to access treatment. Executing this strategy demands market-specific approaches deployed at speed.

“We are acting urgently to strengthen our portfolio through targeted investment in next‑generation therapies and business development”

The US remains our biggest market and demands our boldest moves. We are transforming our position through multiple direct-to-consumer pathways by rapidly expanding our NovoCare® direct-to-patient platform to simplify access and reduce costs, forging new telehealth collaborations and securing retail pharmacy agreements including CVS to improve continuity of care. From 2026, our new agreement with the US Administration – once finalised – will lower prices across Medicare Part D and Medicaid programmes whilst piloting broader obesity coverage – significantly expanding Wegovy® access. We are also pursuing legal action against unlawful sales and marketing of mass compounded drugs, working with regulators, law enforcement and healthcare professionals to protect patients, the US drug approval framework and market integrity.

Outside the US, we are turning challenges into opportunities. As semaglutide nears loss of exclusivity in certain key markets, we are acting decisively, launching second brands in lower‑priced segments, fast‑tracking differentiated devices and sharpening our channel strategies, while reinforcing quality and pharmacovigilance as generics enter the market.

We are playing to win. Backed by robust evidence and patient‑centred execution, we are not just competing in an increasingly challenging landscape – we are reshaping it. Every decision, every initiative and every innovation is driven by our unwavering commitment to get our life-changing medicines to the people who need them – faster than ever before.