Novo Nordisk

Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, with production facilities in eight countries, and affiliates or offices in 5 countries. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S which holds approximately 25% of its shares and a supermajority (45%) of its voting shares.[2]

Novo Nordisk A/S
Aktieselskab
Traded asNasdaq Copenhagen: NOVO B
NYSE: NVO
ISINDK0060534915 
IndustryPharmaceuticals, Health care
Founded1923
FounderHans Christian Hagedorn, August Krogh, Marie Krogh, August Kongsted 
HeadquartersBagsværd, Denmark
Key people
Helge Lund (Chairman of the Board)
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen (President & CEO)
ProductsOzempic, Ryzodeg, Victoza, NovoEight, Activella, Novolin, Levemir, NovoSeven, Norditropin, Tresiba, Xultophy, NovoRapid, Fiasp, Saxenda
RevenueDKK 122.02 billion (2019)[1]
DKK 52.48 billion (2019)[1]
DKK 38.95 billion (2019)[1]
Total assetsDKK 125.61 billion (2019)[1]
Total equityDKK 57.98 billion (2019)[1]
Number of employees
43, 258 (2019)[1]
ParentNovo Holdings 
Websitewww.novonordisk.com

Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services specifically diabetes care medications and devices.[3] 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.

Novo Nordisk employs more than 40,000 people globally,[4] and markets its products in 180 countries. The corporation was created in 1989 through a merger of two Danish companies which date back to the 1920s. The Novo Nordisk logo is the Apis bull, one of the sacred animals of ancient Egypt.

Novo Nordisk is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).[5]

The company was ranked 25th among 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2010 and 72nd in 2014 by Fortune.[6] In January 2012, Novo Nordisk was named as the most sustainable company in the world by the business magazine Corporate Knights while spin-off company Novozymes was named fourth.[7]

History

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.[8]

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[9] In March 2015, NNIT was floated on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic.

2000

Novo's enzymes business, Novozymes A/S, was spun-out.

2013

Novo acquired Xellia for $700 million.[10]

2015

The company announced it would collaborate with Ablynx, using its nanobody technology to develop at least one new drug candidate.[11]

2018

In January, Reuters reported that Novo had offered to acquire Ablynx for $3.1 billion - having made an unreported offer in mid December for the company.[12] However the Ablynx board rejected this offer the same day, saying that the price undervalued the business.[13] 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.[14]

2020

In March Novo volunteers began testing samples for SARS-CoV-2 with RT-qPCR equipment in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to increase available test capacity.[15] In June, the business announced it would acquire AstraZeneca spin-off Corvidia Therapeutics for an initial sum of $725 million (up to a performance-related maximum of $2.1 billion), boosting its presence in cardiovascular diseases.[16]

Collaborative research

Toxicogenomics

Novo Nordisk is involved in publicly funded collaborative research projects with other industrial and academic partners. One example in the area of non-clinical safety assessment is the InnoMed PredTox.[17][18] 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.[19]

Diabetes

Novo Nordisk founded the World Diabetes foundation to save the lives of those affected by diabetes in developing countries and supported a UN resolution to fight diabetes, making diabetes the only other disease alongside HIV / AIDS to have a commitment to combat at a UN level.[20]

Diabetes treatments account for 85% of Novo Nordisk’s business. Novo Nordisk works with doctors, nurses, and patients, to develop products for self-managing diabetes conditions. The DAWN (Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes and Needs) 2001 study was a global survey of the psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes. It involved over 5,000 people with diabetes and almost 4,000 care providers.[21] This study was designed to identify barriers to optimal health and quality of life. A follow-up study completed in 2012 involved more than 15,000 people living with, or caring for, those with diabetes. In response to UK findings, a National Action Plan (NAP) was developed, with a multidisciplinary steering committee, to support the delivery of individualized person-centered care in the UK. The NAP seeks to provide a holistic approach to diabetes treatment for patients and their families.[22]

The i3-diabetes programme is a collaboration between the King's Health Partners, one of only six Academic Health Sciences Centres (AHSCs) in England, and Novo Nordisk. The programme is a five-year collaboration designed to deliver personalised care that will lead to improved outcomes for people living with diabetes, and more efficient and effective ways of caring for people with diabetes.[23][24]

Diabetes support advocacy

Novo Nordisk have sponsored the International Diabetes Federation's Unite for Diabetes campaign.[25]

In March 2014, Novo Nordisk announced a partnership program entitled ‘Cities Changing Diabetes,’ which entails combating urban diabetes. Partnership includes University College London (UCL) and supported by Steno Diabetes Center, as well as a range of local partners including healthcare professionals, city authorities, urban planners, businesses, academics and community leaders.[26]

A November 2014 newspaper article suggested that a recent medical research breakthrough at Harvard University (creating insulin-producing cells from embryonic stem cells) could potentially put Novo Nordisk out of business. Dr Alan Moses, the chief medical officer of Novo Nordisk, commented that the biology of diabetes is incredibly complex but also that Novo Nordisk's mission is to alleviate and cure diabetes. If this new medical advance "...meant the dissolution of Novo Nordisk, that'd be fine."[27]

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 [28] 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.[29]

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”.[30]

Controversy

In 2010, Novo Nordisk breached the ABPIs code of conduct by failing to provide information about side-effects of Victoza and by promoting Victoza prior to being granted market authorization.[31]

In 2013 Novo Nordisk had to pay back DKK 3.6 billion to the Danish tax authorities due to transfer mispricing.[32]

In March 2013, a debate emerged in which scientists questioned whether the incretin class of diabetes 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.[33]

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.[34]

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 diabetes drug, Victoza.[35]

Sponsorship
Charlie Kimball at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

Novo Nordisk has sponsored athletes with diabetes, such as Charlie Kimball in auto racing and Team Novo Nordisk in road cycling.[36]

See also

References
  1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Novo Nordisk. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  2. "Novo Annual Report 2015". viewer.webproof.com. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
  3. "Novo Nordisk sees slower 2020 growth with US insulin prices pressured". CNBC. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  4. "Careers". Retrieved 27 Oct 2014.
  5. "The Pharmaceutical Industry in Figures - 2008 Edition". European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA). p. 49. Archived from the original on 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  6. "100 Best Companies to Work For 2010: Full list". Fortune. 2010.
  7. read, Bart King Published 8 years ago About a 2 minute (2012-01-27). "Novo Nordisk Ranked World's Most Sustainable Corporation". Sustainable Brands. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  8. "Our History". www.novonordisk.com.
  9. "NNIT History". www.nnit.com.
  10. "Novo A/S acquires Xellia Pharmaceuticals for US$ 700 million". www.businesswire.com. 21 May 2013.
  11. "Novo Nordisk Joins Ablynx in Up-to-$399M+ Nanobody® Alliance". 25 November 2015.
  12. "Ablynx soars after rejects Novo Nordisk's $3.1 billion biotech bid". 8 January 2018 – via uk.reuters.com.
  13. "Ablynx soars after rejects Novo Nordisk's $3.1 billion biotech bid". 8 January 2018 – via uk.reuters.com.
  14. "Novo Nordisk Acquires Ziylo in Possible $800 Million-Plus Deal". BioSpace.
  15. Mølsted, Henning (28 March 2020). "Dual shift at Novo now testing Corona samples" (in Danish). Ingeniøren.
  16. https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-corvidia-m-a-novo-nordisk/novo-nordisk-expands-in-cardiovascular-disease-with-725-million-deal-idUKKBN23I26M
  17. Mattes, William B. (2008). "Public Consortium Efforts in Toxicogenomics". In Mendrick, Donna L.; Mattes, William B. (eds.). Essential Concepts in Toxicogenomics. Methods in Molecular Biology. 460. pp. 221–238. doi:10.1007/978-1-60327-048-9_11. ISBN 978-1-58829-638-2. PMID 18449490.
  18. "InnoMed PredTox Member Organizations". Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  19. Innovative Medicines Initiative. "IMI Call Topics 2008". IMI-GB-018v2-24042008-CallTopics.pdf. European Commission. Archived from the original on 2009-10-15. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  20. "World Diabetes Foundation website". Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  21. "Study Results". DAWN Study. Novo Nordisk. Retrieved 2016-07-11.
  22. Funnell, M. M. (2006). "The Diabetes Attitudes, Wishes, and Needs (DAWN) Study". Clinical Diabetes. 24 (4): 154. doi:10.2337/diaclin.24.4.154.
  23. "i3-diabetes programme". i3diabetes.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-12-14.
  24. "How Effective Is The Diabetes Destroyer System?". reviewsmemo.com.
  25. "Novo nordisk in united effort on world diabetes day". worlddiabetesday.org.
  26. "Novo Nordisk launches 'Cities Changing Diabetes' to fight urban diabetes". Novo Nordisk. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  27. Roland, Denise (24 November 2014) Insulin pioneer sees end in sight for diabetes – and itself The Daily Telegraph, Retrieved 25 November 2014
  28. "Biopharmaceutical Research Unit," Novo Nordisk Corporation". novonordisk.com. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  29. Lamm, Greg (4 Sep 2014). "Novo Nordisk cuts jobs at Seattle research facility". bizjournals.com. Retrieved 27 Oct 2014.
  30. "Novo Nordisk sheds 400 staff as it refocuses R&D efforts". Financial Times. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  31. "Novo Nordisk Limited, Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Grünenthal Ltd and Napp Pharmaceuticals Limited named in advertisements". Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA). Retrieved 2011-02-07.
  32. "Sådan snød Novo Nordisk Skat for 3,6 milliarder". Retrieved 2013-02-05.
  33. Funch, D.; Gydesen, H.; Tornøe, K.; Major-Pedersen, A.; Chan, K. A. (2014). "A prospective, claims-based assessment of the risk of pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer with liraglutide compared to other antidiabetic drugs". Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. 16 (3): 273. doi:10.1111/dom.12230. PMC 4237552. PMID 24199745.
  34. "Medical alert: Batches of NovoMix 30 FlexPen and Penfill to be recalled". Diabetes UK. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
  35. McLaughlin, David; Harris, Andrew M.; Feeley (2017-09-06). "Novo Nordisk Settles U.S. Suit Over Victoza for $58.65 Million". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2017-09-06.
  36. Bulik, Beth (28 September 2016). "Novo Nordisk and Indy driver Charlie Kimball drive partnership to 100-race mark and counting". Fierce Pharma. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
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