When Ozempic, a Type 2 diabetes drug, and Wegovy, a weight loss therapy recently approved for serious heart problems, quickly rose to fame in late 2022, Denmark-based Novo Nordisk was caught unaware. Since then, the drugmaker has been playing catch-up as its rival Eli Lilly ramps up production of similar medicines and compounding pharmacies jump into the market expected to be worth $100 billion by 2030.
In November, Novo Nordisk invested more than $8 billion to expand its manufacturing sites in rural Denmark over eight years. The initiative focuses on increasing production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, and the projects will be finished on a rolling basis between late 2025 and 2029.
“I’m very confident that we will be fast in full operation — and then you ask me how fast, we will do our very, very best to be very fast,” Michael Hallgren, senior vice president of active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing at Novo Nordisk, told Bloomberg.
For years, the company’s blockbuster GLP-1 medicines have been in unsteady supply because of high demand. Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide) are only manufactured in Central North Carolina and a coastal town in Denmark, according to the report.
In a rare move, Novo Nordisk is not contracting external manufacturers to manufacture the medicines. Mr. Hallgren said the company wants to keep its production strategy a secret.
“Nobody else in the world is doing what we’re doing,” he told Bloomberg. “That’s our crown jewel.”
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