Novo Nordisk
Template:Short description Template:Undisclosed paid Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox company Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S (wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation) which holds approximately 28.1% of its shares and a majority (77.1%) of its voting shares.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services, specifically diabetes care medications and devices.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Novo Nordisk makes the drug semaglutide, used to treat diabetes under the brand names Ozempic and Rybelsus and obesity under the brand name Wegovy.<ref name="nelson20230830">Template:Cite news</ref> Novo Nordisk is also involved with hemostasis management, growth hormone therapy, and hormone replacement therapy. The company makes several drugs under various brand names, including Levemir, Tresiba, NovoLog, Novolin R, NovoSeven, NovoEight, and Victoza.<ref name="AR2024" />
Novo Nordisk employs more than 48,000 people globally, and markets its products in 168 countries.<ref name="AR2021">Template:Cite web</ref> The corporation was created in 1989, through a merger of two Danish companies, which date back to the 1920s. Novo Nordisk is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The company was ranked 25th among Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2010, and subsequently ranked 72nd in 2014 and 73rd in 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In January 2012, Novo Nordisk was named the most sustainable company in the world by the business magazine Corporate Knights, while spin-off company Novozymes was named fourth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is a leader in the FTSE4Good Index, and the only European company in the top ten.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Novo Nordisk is the largest pharmaceutical company in Denmark.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Novo Nordisk's market capitalization exceeded the GDP of Denmark's domestic economy in 2023, and it is the highest valued company in Europe.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Net sales in 2024 were US$42.121 billion.
History
1922-1925
In 1922, August Krogh, a professor at the University of Copenhagen, went on a lecture tour to North America after receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. During this tour, Krogh and his wife Marie visited Toronto where the scientists Frederick Banting, Charles Best and John Macleod had just succeeded in manufacturing active insulin. Krogh received permission to manufacture insulin in the Nordic countries and joined forces with Hans Christian Hagedorn, a physician specialising in diabetes, to start the production of insulin in Denmark. This led to the establishment of Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium company in 1923.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1925, brothers Harald and Thorvald Pedersen, who were former employees of Nordisk, formed their own company, Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium. Novo and Nordisk competed until they merged in 1989 to become Novo Nordisk A/S.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1982–1994
The company established its presence in the United States in 1982Template:Citation needed and Canada in 1984.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1989, Novo Industri A/S (Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium) and Nordisk Gentofte A/S (Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium) merged to become Novo Nordisk A/S, the world's largest producer of insulin with headquarters in Bagsværd, Copenhagen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1991, Novo Nordisk Engineering (now NNE A/S) demerged after working as in-house consultants at Novo Nordisk for years, to provide standard engineering services (end-to-end engineering) to pharma manufacturing companies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1994, Novo Nordisk's existing information technology units was spun out as NNIT A/S. The company was converted into a wholly owned aktieselskab in 2004<ref name="Company profile">Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2015, NNIT was floated on the Nasdaq Nordic.
2000–2018
Novo's enzymes business, Novozymes A/S, was spun-out in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Novo acquired Xellia for $700 million in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The same year, Novo Nordisk USA moved into new headquarters offices in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, by way of extensively renovating abandoned premises. This action served to consolidate several facilities that the company had previously had in Plainsboro.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2015, the company announced it would collaborate with Ablynx, using its nanobody technology to develop at least one new drug candidate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In January 2018, Reuters reported that Novo had offered to acquire Ablynx for $3.1 billion - having made an unreported offer in mid-December for the company.<ref name="uk.reuters.com">Template:Cite web</ref> However, the Ablynx board rejected this offer the same day, explaining that the price undervalued the business.<ref name="uk.reuters.com"/> Ultimately Novo lost out to Sanofi who bid $4.8 billion. Later, in the same year, the company announced it would acquire Ziylo for around $800 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2020–present
In March 2020, Novo volunteers started testing samples for SARS-CoV-2 with RT-qPCR equipment in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to increase available test capacity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June, the business announced it would acquire AstraZeneca's cardiovascular disease-focused spin-off Corvidia Therapeutics for an initial sum of $725 million (up to a performance-related maximum of $2.1 billion).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November, the company announced it would acquire Emisphere Technologies for $1.8 billion, gaining control of a pill-based treatment for diabetes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Novo then announced in December that it would acquire Emisphere Technologies for $1.35 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In November 2021, Novo announced it would acquire Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and its RNAi therapeutics, for $3.3 billion ($38.25 per share).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2022, Novo agreed to acquire Forma Therapeutics for $1.1 billion with the intent to expand its sickle cell disease and rare blood disorders portfolio.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
By 2022 the popularity of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic for weight loss was so great as to significantly increase the growth of the entire economy of Denmark. Two-thirds of Denmark's overall economic growth in 2022 was attributed to the pharmaceutical industry.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The company's profits increased by 45% year over year in the first half of 2023.Template:R Most of the growth occurred from its weight loss drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic, which accounted for 55% of the company's 2023 revenue.<ref name=":1" />
In August 2023, Novo agreed to acquire the Montreal-headquartered pharmaceutical company, Inversago Pharma for $1 billion<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Embark Biotech for up to $500 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2023, the company announced it would acquire ocedurenone—an experimental drug for uncontrolled hypertension and potentially beneficial in treating cardiovascular and kidney diseases—from KBP Biosciences for $1.3 billion.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After a failed clinical trial the following year, Novo Nordisk initiated legal action against KBP alleging that the company misrepresented the drug's effectiveness by concealing unfavorable clinical trial data. Seeking up to $830 million in damages, the Singapore International Commercial Court granted Novo Nordisk's request for a freeze on KBP's assets and those of its founder, Huang Zhenhua.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In November 2023, Novo Nordisk announced investment of €2.1 billion in a French production facility to increase the production capacity and manufacturing of its popular anti-obesity medication.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In February 2024, parent company Novo Holdings A/S agreed to acquire Catalent for $16.5Template:Nbspbillion. On completion, Novo Nordisk said it would acquire three manufacturing facilities from its parent for $11Template:Nbspbillion to scale up production to meet the massive demand for Wegovy and Ozempic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In March 2024, Novo Nordisk reached a $604 billion market capitalization and became the 12th most valuable company in the world. The company's stock jumped to a record high after early trial data showed positive results for its new experimental weight loss pill amycretin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The company also announced it would acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals and its cardiovascular disease portfolio for up to $1.1 billion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As of April 2024, the flow of cash from Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drugs was continuing to solidify its status as the most valuable company in Europe, to the point that economists were worried that Denmark might come down with Dutch disease (that is, a country that does only one thing well and nothing else).<ref name="Wass">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Nelson">Template:Cite news</ref> The company's market capitalization of $570 billion remained larger than the entire economy of Denmark, its $2.3 billion income tax bill for 2023 made it the largest taxpayer in the country, and its rapid growth was driving nearly all of the expansion of Denmark's economy.<ref name="Wass" /><ref name="Nelson" /> The company had started to move away from its traditional focus on diabetes care towards a more ambitious mission to "defeat serious chronic diseases", and towards that end, hired over 10,000 people in 2023 alone.<ref name="Nelson2">Template:Cite news</ref> To effectively manage the rapid expansion of its workforce while maintaining its traditional corporate culture, the Novo Nordisk Way, the company put over 400 senior executives through a leadership development program called NNX, which stands for Novo Nordisk Next.<ref name="Nelson2" />
In May 2024, the company announced it would acquire Austrian fluid management service business, Single Use Support.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In June 2024, the company announced plans to build a new production plant in Clayton, North Carolina, at a cost of $4.1 billion. It will be the company's fourth in the state of North Carolina and used for production of semaglutide products Ozempic and Wegovy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The company also announced plans to acquire three US-based Catalent sites in to increase production supply.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As of October 2024, Novo Nordisk was the second most valuable drug company in the world by market capitalization, second only to its competitor Eli Lilly and Company.<ref name="Barnes">Template:Cite news</ref> By July 2025, Novo Nordisk had fallen to become the fifth most valuable drug company amid rising competition from generic weight loss substitutes. The company named Maziar Mike Doustdar as the new CEO, effective August 7, 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In March 2025, the company announced new plans for a direct-to-consumer offering of its Wegovy weight loss drug. The company established a new pharmacy, called NovoCare, which would charge customers $499 per month for access to the drug, less than half the cost of the drug through other pharmaceutical distribution networks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2025, Novo Nordisk announced that it would reduce its global workforce by 9,000 people, approximately 9% of its total workforce.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In October 2025, Novo Nordisk acquired Akero Therapeutics for $5.2 billion. Akero Therapeutics is a clinical stage company focusing on the treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Toxicogenomics
Novo Nordisk is involved in government funded collaborative research projects with other industrial and governmental partners. One example in the area of non-clinical safety assessment is the InnoMed PredTox.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="InnoMed PredTox official project website">Template:Cite web</ref> The company is expanding its activities in joint research projects within the framework of the Innovative Medicines Initiative of European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and the European Commission.<ref name="IMI Call Topics 2008">Template:Cite web</ref>
Research and pipeline
Novo Nordisk was researching pulmonary delivery systems for diabetic medications, and in the early stages of research into autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases, using technologies such as translational immunology and monoclonal antibodies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2014, the company announced a decision to discontinue all research in inflammatory disorders, including the discontinuation of R&D in anti-IL-20 for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2018, it was reported that the company would lay off 400 administrative staff, laboratory technicians and scientists, in Denmark and China in order to concentrate research and development efforts on “transformational biological and technological innovation”.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Controversies
In 2010, Novo Nordisk breached the code of conduct for Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), by failing to provide information about side-effects of Victoza and by promoting Victoza prior to being granted market authorisation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2013, Novo Nordisk had to pay back Template:DKKTemplate:Nbspbillion to the Danish tax authorities due to transfer mispricing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In March 2013, a debate emerged in which scientists questioned whether the incretin class of diabetic medications – the class to which Victoza belongs – had an increased risk of side effects in the pancreas such as pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. It was concluded that data currently available did not confirm these concerns.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In October 2013, batches of NovoMix 30 FlexPen and Penfill insulin were recalled in some European countries as their analysis had shown that a small percentage of the products in these batches did not meet the specifications for insulin strength.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2017, Novo Nordisk agreed to pay $58.7 million to end a United States Department of Justice probe into the lack of FDA disclosure to doctors about the cancer risk for their diabetic drug, Victoza.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In March 2023, Novo Nordisk was suspended from the ABPI for a period of two years, for engaging in misleading marketing practices that amounted to "bribing health professionals with inducement to prescribe".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This is only the eighth time in the last 40 years that ABPI sanctioned a member organization.<ref name="reuters-abpi">Template:Cite news</ref> Consequently, the Royal College of General Practitioners<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Royal College of Physicians<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ended their corporate partnerships as it would be in breach of their ethical guidance. The Novo Nordisk UK General Manager, Pinder Sahota, chose to resign as President of the ABPI prior to the suspension.<ref name="reuters-abpi" />
In February 2024, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that 55 lawsuits pending in federal courts be consolidated into a multidistrict litigation. The majority of the cases were against Novo Nordisk, but some were brought against Eli Lilly. As of August 2024 there were 235 active Ozempic lawsuits.
In 2024 Novo Nordisk drug pricing in the US has been a target of lawmakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders and the Senate committee Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). The committee investigation found Novo Nordisk's drug Ozempic priced for $969 per month in the US, compared to $155 in Canada and $59 in Germany. Its weight-loss drug Wegovy is priced for $1,349 per month in the US compared to $140 in Germany and $92 in the UK.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> In July 2024, US President Joe Biden joined Sanders in stating "Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly must stop ripping off Americans with high drug prices."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2024, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen was summoned to testify to the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a hearing in Washington DC. During the hearing Senator Bernie Sanders told the Novo Nordisk CEO, "Stop Ripping Us Off."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2025, the Irish Health Products Regulatory Authority identified several non-compliances relating to advertising rules in educational and training materials in 2021 and 2022. A May 2021 teaching guide did not feature statements on adverse reactions, precautions and contraindications, while materials in November 2021 and April 2022 were unbalanced and promotional in nature, and consideration was not given to the appropriateness of hiring a trainer to carry out consultations with patients during a pilot training course.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Public image
Novo Nordisk has sponsored athletes with diabetes, such as Charlie Kimball in auto racing and Team Novo Nordisk in road cycling.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Corporate affairs
Finances
For the fiscal year 2024, Novo Nordisk reported earnings of DKK 101 billion (around 14.5 billion USD), with an annual revenue of DKK 290.4 billion (around 42.1 billion USD), an increase of 25% over the previous fiscal cycle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Year | Revenue in bn. DKK |
Net income in bn. DKK |
Total assets in bn. DKK |
Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 83.6 | 25.2 | 70.3 | 38,436 |
| 2014 | 88.8 | 26.5 | 77.1 | 41,450 |
| 2015 | 107.9 | 34.9 | 91.8 | 41,122 |
| 2016 | 111.8 | 37.9 | 97.5 | 42,446 |
| 2017 | 111.7 | 38.1 | 102.4 | 42,682 |
| 2018 | 111.8 | 38.6 | 110.8 | 43,202 |
| 2019 | 122.0 | 39.0 | 125.6 | 45,323 |
| 2020 | 126.9 | 42.1 | 194.5 | 45,323 |
| 2021 | 140.8 | 47.8 | 194.5 | 47,792 |
| 2022 | 177.0 | 55.6 | 241.3 | 54,393 |
| 2023 | 232.3 | 83.7 | 314.5 | 63,370 |
| 2024 | 290.4 | 100.9 | 465.8 | 76,302 |
Ownership
Novo Nordisk shares are mostly owned by institutional investors and Novo Holdings A/S. The largest shareholders in 2025 were:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Novo Holdings A/S (28.1%)
- BlackRock (4.1%)
- The Vanguard Group (2.9%)
- Norges Bank (1.8%)
Board of directors
Template:As of, the company's board consisted of the following directors:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Helge Lund, Chairman of Novo Nordisk
- Henrik Poulsen, Vice chair of the Board of Director
- Elisabeth Dahl Christensen
- Laurence Debroux
- Andreas Fibig
- Sylvie Grégoire
- Liselotte Hyveled
- Mette Bøjer Jensen
- Kasim Kutay
- Christina Law
- Martin Mackay
- Thomas Rantzau
See also
- Captain Novolin
- NNIT (formerly Novo Nordisk IT)
- Novo Nordisk Foundation
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research
- Repaglinide
- Team Novo Nordisk
References
External links
Template:OMX Copenhagen 20 companies Template:OMX Nordic 40 Template:Authority control
- Novo Nordisk
- 1923 establishments in Denmark
- Biotechnology companies of Denmark
- Companies based in Gladsaxe Municipality
- Companies listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen
- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Companies in the OMX Nordic 40
- Companies in the S&P Europe 350 Dividend Aristocrats
- Danish brands
- Danish companies established in 1923
- Health care companies of Denmark
- Life science companies based in Copenhagen
- Life sciences industry
- Pharmaceutical companies established in 1923
- Pharmaceutical companies of Denmark
- Companies in the OMX Copenhagen 25