Copenhagen –

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, maker of the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, posted Wednesday strong third-quarter earnings despite being held back by production constraints.

Europe's most valuable company and the main driver of the Danish economy said it expected its 2024 full-year sales to be up by 23% to 27% from a year earlier, revising its earlier forecast of 22% to 28%.

It cited in a statement "the expectation of continued volume growth and capacity limitations at some manufacturing sites."

The group reported a 21% rise in net profit to 27.3 billion kroner ($3.94 billion) for the July-to-September period.

Sales jumped by 22% to 60 billion kroner, slightly under analysts' expectations.

Novo Nordisk is ramping up its manufacturing sites to keep up with surging demand for its new generation of effective weight-loss treatments using semaglutides.

Sales of Wegovy, which has been approved for use to treat obesity in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and the United States, rose by 42% in the first nine months of the year.

Wegovy was also approved for use in China in June.

Sales of the company's other semiglutide bestseller, Ozempic — an injectable anti-diabetic treatment which has become popular for its slimming properties — soared by 54% in the same period.

Obesity has escalated into a global health crisis, affecting 900 million people worldwide, including over 40% of Americans and nearly a quarter of Europeans.

It is a risk factor for developing diabetes, some forms of cancer and complications from other diseases, such as COVID-19.

Difficult to treat, it is costly for health care systems and while its causes can be lifestyle-related, it can also be influenced by genetics.

Novo Nordisk has a hold on 74% of the market for weight-loss treatments.

The World Obesity Federation predicts that by 2035, over half of the world's population will be overweight or obese and the global economic impact could then exceed $4 trillion a year.