On March 21st local time, Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk held its annual shareholder meeting. In 2023, the company gained popularity due to its weight loss pills, benefiting over 40 million patients worldwide and reaching a historic high. In September of last year, the company also climbed to the top spot in European market value.
As of the close on March 22, the latest market value of Novo Nordisk was approximately 574.6 billion US dollars (approximately 4.15 trillion yuan).
Behind the glory, the growth of production capacity has not met the demand, which has become a hot topic of public attention and an important topic that cannot be avoided at shareholder meetings. The company stated that alleviating the tight supply situation is the top four tasks currently being undertaken.
Embark on four major projects
When asked about the bottlenecks and blind spots of the company, Long Haige, the chairman of the board of directors, stated that addressing the current supply-demand tension is the top four tasks currently being undertaken.
"If I take you to the board office of Novo Nordisk, you will see that we are currently working on four major projects. The first is to address the current supply-demand tension. All of us are paying attention to this issue every day. The second is to address longer-term challenges, including cultivating our manufacturing capabilities, addressing record breaking investment levels, and advancing the Catalent trading process." Long Haige said, while the other two are developing product pipelines, establishing organizational and leadership capabilities, and so on.
Currently, Novo Nordisk's weight loss drug Wegovy (mainly composed of semaglutide) is still on the FDA's drug shortage list.
Screenshot of FDA Drug Shortage Database
In terms of increasing production capacity to better meet demand, Novo Nordisk has taken frequent actions in 2023. It is reported that the company invested over 75 billion Danish kroner (approximately 78.75 billion RMB) in 2023 to expand the production capacity of its global production base. These investments include investing DKK 42 billion to expand the production base in Kalundborg, Denmark, which produces half of the global insulin supply.
Outside of Denmark, the company is also expanding its factory in Chartres, France, and has made acquisitions in Athlone, Ireland.
The company's 2023 annual report shows that it is striving to operate facilities 24/7 globally, but due to high demand, it is expected that periodic supply restrictions will continue until 2024.
China is one of the company's main markets
When introducing the highlights of work in 2023, Zhou Fude, President and CEO of Novo Nordisk, mentioned China. In 2023, the company submitted a weekly insulin listing application in China, the European Union, and the United States. The annual report also disclosed that the company has made greater efforts this year to enable more patients from countries and regions such as China to use reusable devices.
What does the Chinese market mean for Novo Nordisk? In the company's annual report, it is mentioned that the company's manufacturing base in China is one of the "strategic sites", and China is also one of the company's 10 main markets.
Based on the 2023 annual report of Novo Nordisk and Tianyancha data, it can be seen that Novo Nordisk (China) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is located in Tianjin and its business scope covers sales, marketing, and production. Novo Nordisk (Shanghai) Pharmaceutical Trading Co., Ltd. is engaged in sales and marketing business, while Beijing Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. is engaged in research and development business.
In 2023, Novo Nordisk's sales in China increased by 3% in Danish kroner and by 11% at a fixed exchange rate.
Continue to focus on areas such as obesity
According to the annual report of Novo Nordisk, the company's strategic vision in 2025 includes: further improving the innovation of diabetes therapy, developing better obesity treatment solution portfolio, strengthening and promoting the R&D pipeline of rare diseases, and entering the cardiovascular and emerging treatment fields, focusing on cardiovascular disease (CVD), metabolic dysfunction related steatohepatitis (MASH) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
In the company's view, there are real needs behind the areas that the company focuses on. For example, since 1975, the number of obese people worldwide has almost doubled, and it is expected that over 1.2 billion adults will suffer from obesity by 2030.
The company believes that drugs alone are not enough to overcome obesity.
"Therefore, we are committed to comprehensively addressing this disease by increasing prevention efforts, especially during childhood when it is most urgent," the company's annual report wrote. By 2030, it is expected that over 310 million children and adolescents will suffer from obesity.
