Novo Nordisk

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Novo Nordisk headquarters in Bagsvaerd, Denmark

© Liselotte Sabroe/Scanpix Denmark—AFP/Getty Images

Novo Nordisk A/S is an international pharmaceutical research, development, and manufacturing corporation established in 1989 through the merger of competing Danish companies Nordisk Insulaboratorium and Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium. It specializes primarily in four areas of pharmacological research:

Novo Nordisk is headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, and employs about 55,000 workers worldwide. Its revenues in 2023 were 232 billion Danish kroner ($34.4 billion).

When researchers at the University of Toronto announced the discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes in 1921, the news reverberated worldwide. Danish Nobel laureate August Krogh, whose wife (a physician) had diabetes, received permission to bring the process for creating insulin to Denmark, where the first diabetic patients were treated two years later.

Krogh, diabetes specialist H.C. Hagedorn, and pharmacist August Kongsted established Nordisk Insulaboratorium in 1923 to produce insulin on a commercial scale. They also established the Nordisk Insulin Foundation, with profits going toward scientific research and humanitarian causes.

In 1924, chemist Thorvald Pedersen was fired from Nordisk. His brother, Harald, soon left in solidarity. A year later, the brothers established their own insulin manufacturing company, Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium. The companies became fierce competitors and both established hospitals in Denmark where patients could seek diabetes treatment. The facilities merged in 1992 to form the Steno Diabetes Center.

Novo Terapuetisk established the business-focused Novo Foundation in 1951 to ensure Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium continued its work and thrived. A decade later, the Novo Foundation started awarding grants to researchers involved in human and veterinary medicine as well as numerous social, business, and humanitarian causes.

The early 1970s saw Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium and Novo Industri merge into a single entity called Novo Industri A/S. In 1974, Novo Industri was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange, with the company’s controlling interest held by the Novo Foundation. At about the same time, Nordisk Insulaboratorium went through some changes of its own, including dividing the Nordisk branch into three divisions:

Following decades of competition, the Novo Foundation and Nordisk Insulaboratorium agreed to merge in 1989, making the resulting company, Novo Nordisk A/S, a much larger player within the international market. The merger was technically between the companies’ controlling foundations, resulting in the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which held a controlling interest.

The merger made economic sense. It allowed the two companies, which had been fishing from the same talent pool and poaching each other’s researchers for years, to efficiently and effectively combine resources.

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Injectable anti-obesity pen.

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Novo Nordisk manufactures a wide variety of pharmaceutical products, including:

The company also manufactures various pre-filled and “smart” insulin pens to treat diabetes. Wegovy competes against Eli Lilly & Company’s drug Zepbound, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in November 2023. Both drugs have proven extremely popular with consumers seeking to lose weight, leading to shortages. (Like Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly began life as a producer of insulin, creating the first commercially available diabetes treatment in 1923.)

In 2021, Novo Nordisk voluntarily recalled more than 1,400 product samples due to improper storage. The recalled samples were marketed under the brand names Fiasp, NovoLog, Tresiba, and Xultophy. The recall involved only samples, not prescribed products distributed by retail or mail-order pharmacies.

In 2023, Novo Nordisk faced legal action over side effects related to Wegovy and Ozempic, which are the same drug (semaglutide) but marketed for different purposes: Ozempic for the treatment of diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. Reported side effects related to the use of the semaglutide include gastroparesis, suicidal thoughts, and gallbladder disease. Primary lawsuits claimed that Novo Nordisk failed to notify health care providers of these side effects, putting patients at risk.

Novo Nordisk defended the safety of drugs containing semaglutide and in January 2024 filed a motion to dismiss a product liability lawsuit filed by Jaclyn Bjorklund of Louisiana. According to the suit, Bjorklund developed gastroparesis after using Ozempic and Mounjaro, a diabetes medication manufactured by Eli Lilly, which was also named in the litigation. In February 2024, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation required all pending Ozempic lawsuits in federal court to be centralized in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Novo Nordisk A/S is a unique corporate entity that was established when two competing Danish pharmaceutical companies joined forces. The merging companies were among the first to manufacture insulin commercially, and Novo Nordisk found equal success in producing hormone replacement therapy, hemophilia treatments, and weight control drugs. Today, Novo Nordisk is among the largest and most successful pharmaceutical manufacturers in the world.