The Weight Loss Drug Ozempic is Transforming a Small Danish Town

In Kalundborg, population under 17,000, Novo Nordisk is making huge investments to increase production of its popular diabetes and weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy.

· That is expected to change soon as the town benefits from America’s scramble for weight-loss drugs.

· Novo Nordisk makes nearly all of its semaglutide, the active ingredient in the company’s wildly popular diabetes and obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.

· It’s the largest manufacturing investment in Denmark by a company, and it’s happening in this town of fewer than 17,000 people.

· Novo Nordisk is already reshaping Denmark’s economy. The country’s economy grew 1.9 percent last year, among the fastest in Europe and all thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, led by Novo Nordisk.

· Nearly all of Novo Nordisk’s revenue is earned overseas,more than half in the United States alone.

· Last year it paid about 15 percent of the country’s entire corporate tax intake, more than other big Danish companies like the brewer Carlsberg, the toy company Lego and the shipping firm Maersk.

[ABS News Service/23.04.2024]

As the sun sets over the harbor in Kalundborg, a small town about 60 miles west of Copenhagen, light streams through the glass walls of Shaun Gamble’s cafe and bathes his afternoon customers in a warm glow. It’s an enviable location — on the water, next to a large playground — except for the fact that little else is nearby.

That is expected to change soon as the town benefits from America’s scramble for weight-loss drugs.

Nearby, at a sprawling manufacturing plant, Novo Nordisk makes nearly all of its semaglutide, the active ingredient in the company’s wildly popular diabetes and obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy. The company has been in Kalundborg for half a century but in the past two years announced it would invest 60 billion kroner, or about $8.6 billion, into expanding the facilities here. It’s the largest manufacturing investment in Denmark by a company, and it’s happening in this town of fewer than 17,000 people.

The money is part of Novo Nordisk’s global transformation to ramp up production of its best-selling drugs, but perhaps nowhere will feel the impact like this coastal community. Novo Nordisk plans to add 1,250 jobs to the existing 4,500 employees at the Kalundborg plant. A highway is being extended; investors are snapping up houses and planning new construction; universities have begun offering biotech courses to feed Novo Nordisk and nearby businesses with workers.

Mr. Gamble, who opened his Costa Kalundborg Kaffe four years ago after a job at a nearby Novo Nordisk warehouse, is optimistic. The cafe’s business is unsteady — busy in the summer when tourists flock to nearby cottages, yet money-losing for much of the rest of the year when it’s rainy and windy.

But the municipality, bolstered by Novo Nordisk’s boom, plans to open a library and cultural hub next door. Mr. Gamble is investing, too, planning to open earlier and serve more food, including breakfast.

Creating economic winners

Novo Nordisk is already reshaping Denmark’s economy. The country’s economy grew 1.9 percent last year, among the fastest in Europe and all thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, led by Novo Nordisk. Without it, the economy would have stagnated.

Nearly all of Novo Nordisk’s revenue is earned overseas,more than half in the United States alone.

There are other, more tangible benefits for Danes. The company is the largest corporate taxpayer in Denmark. Last year it paid about 15 percent of the country’s entire corporate tax intake, more than other big Danish companies like the brewer Carlsberg, the toy company Lego and the shipping firm Maersk.

Some analysts wonder if this blessing could become a curse, recalling Finland’s long recession when Nokia lost its dominance in mobile phones with the arrival of the iPhone and Android smartphones.

Stephanie Lose, the economy minister, isn’t too concerned that Denmark will suffer a similar fate. “The pharmaceutical sector is not as interwoven with the Danish economy,” she said. Novo Nordisk’s employees represent just 1 percent of the Danish work force — though it did account for 20 percent of the jobs added last year.

Still, the changes have had a limited impact for some.