German biotech company Gerresheimer AG said on Thursday that it has experienced an influx of orders for injectors that administer weight loss drugs based on treatments for diabetes.
The Deutsche Börse (ETR:DB1)-listed company posted a trading update on Thursday, confirming its guidance for the full-year 2023 after generating 12.6% in revenue growth in the first nine months of the year.
The company said it is seeing a “record” influx of orders after signing new contracts for its obesity drug technology.
It said order intake, including new orders for syringes and pens, as well as auto-injectors for new medications for treating obesity based on glucagon-like peptide 1 known as GLP-1, a semaglutide peptide-based hormone that regulates insulin production, was at a record high.
“We have successfully signed additional contracts with attractive terms for GLP-1 platforms,” Dietmar Siemssen, chief executive officer of Gerresheimer AG.
“We will finance corresponding capacity expansions with the funds from the capital increase. The new orders give us tailwind for our profitable growth in subsequent years and underpin our solution expertise in biopharmaceuticals with complex requirements.
“Overall, we are seeing the highest order intake in the history of our company at the moment.”
Ozempic, a brand of semaglutide that was originally developed to treat diabetes patients, recently hit the headlines for being used by a host of celebrities to lose weight.
Elon Musk said publicly that he injected a similar drug called Wegovy to maintain his figure.
Gerresheimer, a producer of drug packaging and injectors, said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 20.6% organically to €285.3 million for the nine-month period, up from €242.1 million a year earlier.
Its revenue in the first nine months was €1.45 billion, up from €1.29 billion a year earlier.
The company said that it is expanding production capacity in Europe, the US, and Mexico for syringes, auto-injectors, and pens, as well as injection vials and primary plastic packaging.