Novo Nordisk's operating profit fell 9% at constant exchange rates (CER) in the third quarter after DKK 8.7 billion of non-cash write-offs. Adjusted operating profit, which leaves those charges out, rose 27%. Of the total, DKK 4.6 billion relates to ziltivekimab, a drug candidate, and DKK 4.1 billion to right-sizing Novo's manufacturing network.

The split looks like the price of clearing up two earlier problems: a pipeline setback and factory capacity built during the obesity boom. The business underneath is still growing. Adjusted sales rose 4% at CER, driven by volume growth in GLP-1 drugs in the US and International Operations, mainly for obesity. That is a modest pace beside the write-offs, so for now the cleanup is competing with the momentum.

For Novo's long-term position, the cagrisema subgroup data of October 20 still weigh more than one quarter's profit. The Wegovy pill matters too. It sold DKK 5,394 million in the quarter and gives Novo an oral drug to set against the oral and injectable products in development at its rival Eli Lilly. The pill has since been launched in eight markets.

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