April 11 (Reuters) - German packaging and medical equipment maker Gerresheimer on Thursday posted adjusted first-quarter core profit in line with expectations of analysts polled by Vara Research, driven by the plastics and devices division.

The division that makes syringes, inhalers and injector pens has been buoyed by the diet and diabetes drugs side of the market, which the company's finance chief expects to drive strong revenue growth in the coming years.

CFO Bernd Metzner said the diet and diabetes drugs market is expected to generate about 350 million euros of annual revenue for Gerresheimer by the 2026/27 financial year, compared with a low double-digit figure currently.

Obesity drugs such as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound are administered by injector pens such as those made by Gerresheimer. Shares in Swiss rival Ypsomed surged in September after it announced a contract with Novo Nordisk for its autoinjectors.

Gerresheimer's first-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 3.7% year on year at 80.9 million euros ($86.9 million).

The plastics and devices business was up 26.5% at 59.3 million euros, thanks to higher sales and a profit margin that improved to 22.9% from 20.5% a year earlier.

Core profit at the glass packaging division, however, fell 14.5% to 34.8 million euros as destocking by pharmaceutical customers weighed on demand. ($1 = 0.9314 euros)

(Reporting by Louis van Boxel-Woolf and Isabel Demetz Additional Reporting by Isabel Demetz and Anneli Palmen Editing by Kim Coghill, Varun H K and David Goodman)