Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, maker of the diabetes drug Ozempic and the obesity drug Wegovy, announced Monday that it is investing 8.5 billion kroner ($1.2 billion) to build a new factory in Denmark to produce drugs for rare diseases.
The production site and warehouse, based in Odense (southeast) and covering an area of 40,000 square meters, will be the "first factory opened in Denmark by Novo Nordisk since the beginning of the 21st century," the company said in a statement.
"Designed to be modular and flexible, it will enable the design of many types of products to combat rare diseases, such as hemophilia," Novo Nordisk said.
Henrik Wulff, Novo Nordisk's executive vice president, said in the statement that the new plant would help the company "meet the growing global demand for our life-changing medicines."
In November, the drugmaker announced a 21% rise in quarterly net profit to 27.3 billion crowns ($3.94 billion) in the third quarter, while lamenting capacity limits at its production sites.
Novo Nordisk also noted that construction work at the Odense site has begun and is expected to be completed in 2027. The plant is expected to create 400 jobs once completed.
Sales of Wegovy, which has been approved for use in the treatment of obesity in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway and the United States, increased by 421 points in the first nine months of the year, according to Novo Nordisk.
It has also been available in China since mid-November.
Sales of the company's other best-seller, the anti-diabetes drug Ozempic, increased by 42% in the first nine months of the year, according to Novo Nordisk.
The company also said in November that it now expects its full-year revenue to increase from 23% to 27%, thus slightly revising its previous forecast of 22% to 28%.
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