Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the UK’s central bank sets interest rates
Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk has reported a surge in sales of obesity and diabetes drugs, thanks to the success of the weightloss drug Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk grew its operating profits by 37% in the first nine months of this year, with sales up by a third.
“We are very satisfied with the sales growth in the first nine months of 2023, which is reflecting that more people than ever are benefiting from our innovative diabetes and obesity treatments.”
The last two years have locked us into two mutually reinforcing distributive and ecological crises, with oil majors hoovering up cash from the rest of the economy and using to consolidate their position and hasten climate breakdown.
All net zero pathways demand fossil fuel majors wind down their existing dirty assets and scale up renewables. Yet as we see, as long as the stewards of these assets remain answerable to shareholders, the pace of both will remain glacial. Using cash windfalls to buy up existing low- carbon companies should not be mistaken for additive investment in decarbonisation and should be recognised for what it is — consolidation of market power whose consequences are purely distributive.
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