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Novo Nordisk (NVO+4.31%), the maker of the popular GLP-1 medications Wegovy and Ozempic, said potential tariffs on Europe imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump could affect its business.
The Guardian reports that Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that the company was “not immune” to potential tariffs. Still, he remains confident that the Danish pharma giant is in a “good position to meet the demands of the new [U.S.] administration.”
Last week, the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which have since been paused for a month. A separate 10% tariff remains in place for Chinese imports. He also said on Sunday that tariffs on the European Union will “definitely happen.” Trump previously threatened to impose “very high” tariffs on Denmark, where Novo Nordisk is headquartered, if it refused to let Greenland become part of the United States.
Jørgensen told Bloomberg on Wednesday that Novo Nordisk has a network of factories around the world, including in the U.S., providing it “a hedge against a world with more tariffs.”
The comments come on the same day that the company released its fourth-quarter earnings report. Novo Nordisk reported that full-year sales of all its drugs grew 26% to $40.5 billion. However, the company projects that sales growth in 2025 will slow down to between 16% and 24%.
Other Big Pharma executives have remained relatively quiet on how tariffs could impact their supply chains.
Merck (MRK-0.41%) chief financial officer Caroline Litchfield told investors Tuesday during an earnings call that the company expects “a very immaterial impact” from the tariffs.
Litchfield said that the company has a manufacturing footprint that “really enables global supply” with low levels of manufacturing in China, Mexico, and Canada.
“We will continue to assess the situation based on the different tariffs that are being proposed by the U.S. government, but remain confident in our supply chain and our ability to supply our medicines and vaccines around the world,” Litchfield told investors.
While the proposed tariffs didn’t surface during Pfizer (PFE+2.51%) or Amgen’s (AMGN+6.21%) Tuesday earnings calls, several trade groups have voiced concerns about their potential impact.
The Health Distribution Alliance and Association for Accessible Medicines warned in a joint statement that these trade measures could disrupt critical supply chains and patient access to medications, particularly generics.
“From the base ingredients to the finished products, U.S. medicines rely on a global supply chain that is already stressed and in need of strengthening,” John Murphy III, President and CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, said in a statement. “Tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico, and China could increase already problematic drug shortages.”