Novo Nordisk's obesity-fighting drugs are fattening Denmark's economy while shrinking other sectors
Novo Nordisk's blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have slimmed down Hollywood stars and millions of non-celebrities worldwide — all while adding great heft to Denmark's economy.
Novo Nordisk now has a market cap of $600 billion, injecting a welcome dose of wealth into the Baltic nation while creating thousands of new jobs, bolstering national pension plans and keeping mortgage rates low.
Shrinking waistlines and industries
Denmark is home to six million of the world's wealthiest and healthiest people, and less than 1% of Novo's sales come from inside the country where the company was founded in the 1920s.
Novo Nordisk is investing billions of dollars into new plants in the port city Kalundborg on the Danish seaside.
But just a few miles down the road from the construction cranes sits a quintessential Scandinavian institution: a folk school that serves as a residential health facility for the small portion of Danes who are diagnosed with obesity. Recently, enrollment has declined by almost half.
Many of those empty beds are being filled by newly recruited Novo employees as they try to find permanent housing.
Lars Jorgensen, who's been a therapist and life coach at the facility for 20 years, knew Ozempic and Wegovy's success could impact the facility. For many, the new weight-loss drugs may be the answer to their health issues, but he hopes some potential students will think twice before taking these drugs for life.
"Because they still have the problem," he said. "The obesity is just a symptom."
On a more macro level, Novo Nordisk's runaway success is beginning to shrink entire sectors of the global economy. In a world where people are less hungry, fast food chains and big box stores have been forced to tighten their belts.
Wealth, the Danish way
Novo Nordisk's recent success is a point of pride in Denmark. The company is Europe's largest and its market cap is larger than the entire country's GDP.
"Everybody has the feeling that this will go on forever," Danish neurologist and writer Peter Lund Madsen said.
Madsen, who has stock in the company, is particularly proud that Novo Nordisk is now bigger than any firms their neighbors the Swedes have.
"They've always had cars and airplanes and big companies," he said. "But now we have Novo."