In the last few years, Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk has become one of the most valuable companies in the world thanks to soaring demand for its diabetes and weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy. But its success has actually been over 100 years in the making, with roots that go back to 1922 and the discovery of insulin. Here is a summary of key events in the rise of Novo Nordisk.
Physiologist August Krogh travelled to Canada in 1922 to meet with Canadian scientists Frederick Grant Banting, Charles Best, and John James Richard Macleod, who had just discovered insulin. Krogh secured the rights to produce it in Denmark.
Krogh, his wife Marie — a doctor who was living with diabetes, scientist Hans Christian Hagedorn, and pharmacist August Kongsted established Nordisk Insulinboratorium in 1923 and start producing and commercializing insulin in Denmark.
After a disagreement, Hans Christian Hagedorn fired chemist and pharmacist Thorvald Pedersen in 1924. Pedersen’s brother Harald also left the company and joined Thorvald in forming the competing company Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium.
Over six decades, rivals Nordisk and Novo advance treatments for diabetes and other illnesses by opening hospitals, establishing foundations, and developing breakthrough medications.
Novo introduces NovoPen, the first insulin pen injection in 1985, making it easier for patients to self-administer the medication at more accurate doses.
Noridisk and Novo merge in 1989 to become the world’s largest producer of insulin: Novo Nordisk.
The merged company continues making life-saving medications. Novo Nordisk launched NovoSeven in 1996 as the first effective treatment for people with hemophilia with inhibitors.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. The glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonist injections regulates blood sugar levels and becomes known for its weight loss side effects.
The FDA approves Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, another GLP-1 medication, for the use of weight loss.
Skyrocketing sales of these drugs have made Novo Nordisk the most valuable company in Europe, surpassing luxury conglomerate LVMH last year. Sales of the drugs even helped boost Denmark’s GDP by 1.8% in 2023.
The company announced this year that its upcoming pill, Amycretin, helped users lose an average of 13% of body weight after 12 weeks, according to an early stage trial. This news made the company’s stock soar, raising its market cap above Tesla’s and making it the 12th-most valuable company in the world.
