Novo Nordisk proclaims a plan to speculate $4.1 billion to amplify its capability of constructing weight reduction drug Wegovy and diabetes remedy Ozempic.
Danish pharmaceutical large Novo Nordisk has introduced a plan to speculate $4.1 billion (€3.8 billion) to amplify its US production capability. The brand new plant shall be a 2d fill and completing facility for high-in-demand weight reduction medicine like Wegovy and Ozempic in Clayton, North Carolina.
Novo Nordisk’s determination to spend money on the USA comes as a part of its broader approach to reinforce its international production community. The scientific company states that: “Marking one of the crucial greatest production investments in Novo Nordisk’s historical past, the growth will upload 1.4 million sq. toes of manufacturing area for aseptic production and completed manufacturing processes.”
Early-stage paintings is already underway to organize the 56-acre facility footprint, with building anticipated to be finished between 2027 and 2029.
The brand new facility will upload 1,000 new jobs on best of the two,500 staff already hired on the 3 current production websites in North Carolina, which serves as a manufacturing hub for the corporate. Novo Nordisk introduced it could building up investments to roughly $6.8 billion (€6.3 billion), a 74% building up from the $3.9 billion (€3.6 billion) invested ultimate 12 months.
Calls for for weigh-loss medicine outpace provide
Wegovy and Ozempic are in excessive call for because of their efficient remedy for weight reduction and diabetes. This elegance of substances is usually known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists. In Might, Novo Nordisk introduced that the corporate have been expanding the availability of Wegovy, as no less than 25,000 other people have been beginning to take the medication in the USA, and the quantity has now risen to round 35,000. The fast enlargement in call for has put its provide underneath power. In line with the USA Meals & Drug Management (FDA), Wegovy is proscribed in provide because of expanding call for, even supposing Ozempic is to be had for injection.
One month in the past, its greatest competitor, Eli Lilly, additionally introduced an formidable funding plan of $5.3 billion (€4.9 billion) at an Indiana web site to spice up the manufacturing of pharmaceutical substances (API) for its kind 2 diabetes medicine, Zepbound and Mounjaro. This new plan brings Eli Lilly’s general funding to $9 billion (€8.4 billion), the biggest within the corporate’s 150-year historical past.
This phenomenon highlights the profitable marketplace for weight-loss medicine, which driven the stocks of each corporations to all-time highs ultimate week.
Novo Nordisk’s gross sales of weight reduction medicine doubled in Q1
Novo Nordisk’s proportion worth has surged 42% this 12 months amid the fast-growing call for for Wegovy. Within the first quarter, the drugmaker doubled its gross sales of weight-loss medicine to €125.7 billion, with income surging 28% to €3.4 billion.
Income in the USA jumped 35% as weekly prescriptions for Wegovy reached 130,000. Novo Nordisk has raised its outlook for 2024, anticipating gross sales to develop between 19% and 27% at consistent alternate charges. The corporate said that call for for Wegovy and Ozempic is more likely to outpace provide this 12 months, implying that gross sales will develop so long as the company will increase manufacturing. Therefore, a diffusion in production capability is more likely to result in additional enlargement within the corporate’s income.
In September 2023, Novo Nordisk surpassed French luxurious powerhouse LVMH to grow to be essentially the most treasured corporate in Europe, due to the surging call for for its weight problems medicine Wegovy and Ozempic. In February, Novo Nordisk’s mother or father corporate, Novo Holdings, got the syringe maker Catalent for $16.5 billion (€15.4 billion) in money, aiming to spice up its filling and packaging features for Wegovy and Ozempic. The deal lets in Novo Nordisk to buy 3 of Catalent’s production fill-finish websites from Novo Holdings for $11 billion (€10.2 billion). This acquire is predicted to assist building up its filling capability ranging from 2026.