Inside Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic and Wegovy
Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen has a problem: too many people want what he's selling.
Mr. Jorgensen is the chief executive of Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer. Although the company's name isn't exactly well-known, the TV jingle for its best-selling drug – "Oh-oh-ohhh, Ozempic!" » - might ring in your ears. In the United States, Novo Nordisk's diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, achieved celebrity status and helped make the company Europe's most valuable public company. He can't produce enough medicine.
Mr. Jorgensen's problem is that many senior executives wouldn't mind, but the success took him by surprise. Last year, as the company celebrated its centenary, Novo Nordisk's revenue jumped by a third, to 232 billion Danish crowns, or $33 billion.
“No one predicted this growth. — no analyst, no one in the company,” Mr. Jorgensen said in a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in suburban Copenhagen. “No one predicted that a century-old company would grow more than 30 percent,” he said, seemingly torn between pride and astonishment.
For most of its 100-year history, Novo Nordisk has focused on its regular business of treating diabetes, one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. Even today, it produces half of the world's insulin. But the development of Ozempic and Wegovy has led to a bigger, bolder ambition to “beat serious chronic diseases.” This includes treating and even preventing obesity, which is linked to other health problems like heart and kidney disease.
Pursuing a goal Much broader than diabetes, the company hopes to open the door to a multibillion-dollar market with nearly a billion potential patients. In the United States alone, more than 40% of adults are obese.
The Danish drugmaker is therefore undergoing vast changes: it is becoming bigger, more international and closer to the global market. heat from the spotlights. Mr. Jorgensen is trying to increase production to meet the huge demand for his weight-loss drugs, stay ahead of competition from Eli Lilly and others and secure the company's future so that it can achieve its noble goal.
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Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen has a problem: too many people want what he's selling.
Mr. Jorgensen is the chief executive of Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer. Although the company's name isn't exactly well-known, the TV jingle for its best-selling drug – "Oh-oh-ohhh, Ozempic!" » - might ring in your ears. In the United States, Novo Nordisk's diabetes and weight loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, achieved celebrity status and helped make the company Europe's most valuable public company. He can't produce enough medicine.
Mr. Jorgensen's problem is that many senior executives wouldn't mind, but the success took him by surprise. Last year, as the company celebrated its centenary, Novo Nordisk's revenue jumped by a third, to 232 billion Danish crowns, or $33 billion.
“No one predicted this growth. — no analyst, no one in the company,” Mr. Jorgensen said in a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in suburban Copenhagen. “No one predicted that a century-old company would grow more than 30 percent,” he said, seemingly torn between pride and astonishment.
For most of its 100-year history, Novo Nordisk has focused on its regular business of treating diabetes, one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. Even today, it produces half of the world's insulin. But the development of Ozempic and Wegovy has led to a bigger, bolder ambition to “beat serious chronic diseases.” This includes treating and even preventing obesity, which is linked to other health problems like heart and kidney disease.
Pursuing a goal Much broader than diabetes, the company hopes to open the door to a multibillion-dollar market with nearly a billion potential patients. In the United States alone, more than 40% of adults are obese.
The Danish drugmaker is therefore undergoing vast changes: it is becoming bigger, more international and closer to the global market. heat from the spotlights. Mr. Jorgensen is trying to increase production to meet the huge demand for his weight-loss drugs, stay ahead of competition from Eli Lilly and others and secure the company's future so that it can achieve its noble goal.
We are having difficulty retrieving the content of the article.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode, please exit and sign in to your Times account, or subscribe to the full Times.
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