Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk is building a new $4B factory as it races to meet global demand
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Pumped… Ozempic and Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk said it’d spend $4.1B on a new facility to help produce even more weight-loss and diabetes meds. The Danish pharma giant is building the plant to help fill and package syringes and injection pens for its popular GLP-1 medications. The 1.4M-square-foot facility, in North Carolina, is expected to be finished between 2027 and 2029.
Small supply: A boom in demand for GLP-1s like Wegovy has left lots of name brands in short supply. Now Novo plans to invest nearly $7B this year (up from $4B last year) to fill the gap.
Wide reach: Novo said yesterday that Wegovy was approved for sale as a weight-loss drug in China, which opens up the world’s second-biggest economy to the biz. FYI: China reportedly has more people with obesity than any other country.
Big Pharma bulks up… More than 40% of adults in the US have obesity. One in eight US adults has taken Ozempic or another GLP-1, a recent survey suggested. It’s not just Novo dropping big bucks to up its inventory. After doubling production capacity for Zepbound and its related diabetes drug, Mounjaro, Eli Lilly said last month that it would spend an additional $5.3B to build a manufacturing facility in Indiana.
Catching lightning in a bottle is just the first step… GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have sparked massive demand in the US and abroad. While that’s been a headache for those struggling with tight supply, it’s helped create a profit puppy for producers. Last month Morgan Stanley hiked its forecast for the global market for obesity drugs. The firm said it’s now expected to hit upwards of $144B by the end of the decade — double its earlier estimate.