(Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S is delaying introduction of its Wegovy obesity treatment in Europe until next year to make sure it has enough supply after the US launch was marred by production bottlenecks and drug shortages.

The Danish drugmaker had planned to start selling the appetite suppressant Wegovy in the UK this summer and in other European countries by the end of the year. Now those rollouts have been pushed back into 2023, a spokeswoman said. Wegovy has launched this week in its domestic home market of Denmark. 

While obesity has the potential to be major business for Novo Nordisk, Wegovy’s limited supply has become a lesson for drugmakers about runaway demand. Following the launch in the US in mid-2021, Wegovy faced a major bottleneck: the company that Novo had hired to fill syringes with the drug had inspection issues with the US Food and Drug Administration.

At the end of last year, to deal with the setback, the company decided to build three new manufacturing facilities, though ramping the output up takes time.

While a Novo Nordisk spokesperson declined to provide specifics on the new date for the UK launch, she said the company is committed to the market and aims to treat 1 million obese Brits by 2025. Novo Nordisk aims for global sales of its obesity drug portfolio, which also includes the drug saxenda, to exceed 25 billion kroner ($3.5 billion) by that year.

“We are working as fast as we can,” the company said by email.

Mimicking Hormone

Wegovy works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that targets areas of the brain that regulate appetite and food intake, causing patients to eat less and feel full for longer. Overweight and obese patients had an average weight loss of 15% in clinical trials.

Novo Nordisk, well-known for its diabetes treatments, has been pivoting to treat the global obesity epidemic. Drugmakers have tried and failed to harness the market, offering medicines that either disappointed or turned out to be risky. Novo Nordisk and its US rival Eli Lilly & Co. are revitalizing the field by re-purposing diabetes drugs. 

The strategy has gained investor attention; Novo Nordisk’s shares have doubled in value in two years, helping raise the company’s market value to about $284 billion, surpassing Novartis AG and AstraZeneca Plc. 

Early Bird  

Wegovy has enjoyed a head start after it became the first slimming prescription medicine in seven years to gain clearance in the US. If Novo Nordisk can keep the advantage, the market is there for the taking, with global sales estimated to reach more than $50 billion by 2030, according to Morgan Stanley. In the UK alone, the cost of obesity is estimated at £9.7 billion ($11.9 billion) by 2050, Novo Nordisk estimates.

Still, a steady stock of the drug won’t be Novo’s only challenge. Eli Lilly’s obesity treatment, Mounjaro, which uses the same technology as Wegovy, received FDA approval in May this year.

“We’re only just at the beginning of thinking of obesity as a real market for pharma,” Emily Field, an analyst at Barclays Plc, said in emailed comments.

--With assistance from Janice Kew and Jonas Ekblom.

(Corrects obesity drug sales projection in fifth paragraph. Adds information on Wegovy’s domestic market launch in second paragraph.)

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