Novo Nordisk A/S ended the first quarter with sales of DKK 33.8 billion ($5.56 billion), unchanged from a year earlier. But turnover is expected to increase by 2% to 6% for the year as a whole on stronger demand for the company’s non-insulin products for diabetes. Sales of the company’s glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medicines, which reduce blood glucose by mimicking the actions of a natural hormone, rose by 13% in the quarter. This compared with a decline of 7% for the company’s traditional insulins. Sales of biopharmaceuticals, which include drugs for haemophilia, were down by 6%.
