Investing $2.3 billion in French factories… Supply shortage and competition
Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company that is taking the world by storm with its weight-loss drug ‘Wegobee’ (ingredient name: semaglutide), is investing an additional $2.3 billion (approximately KRW 3 trillion) to expand its production plant in France.
According to foreign media such as Reuters on the 24th, Novo Nordisk is investing $2.3 billion in its Chartres, France factory to meet the rapidly increasing demand for weight loss and diabetes drugs. This investment is expected to significantly increase the production capacity of existing drugs such as Ozempic and Wigobi and other obesity treatments under development.
About 2,000 employees work at the Chartres plant in France. This investment is expected to create 500 more jobs. Construction is expected to be completed between 2026 and 2028.
This additional investment decision is believed to be an attempt to increase supply as semaglutide is sold out worldwide. In Europe, there are concerns about a crisis due to a supply shortage of Ozempic.
In fact, this announcement comes after Novo Nordisk announced earlier this month that it would invest $6 billion (about 8 trillion won) in Denmark to increase production.
It is also interpreted as a way to prepare for competition. The industry sees this investment in Novo Nordisk as similar to that of its competitor, American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
Recently, Eli Lilly announced that it would build a $2.5 billion (approximately 3.25 trillion won) manufacturing facility in Germany in response to the rapid increase in demand for diabetes and obesity medicines. On the 8th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Eli Lilly’s obesity medicine ‘Zebbound’, which is known to be more effective than WeGobee.
According to the results of the Zebbound phase 3 clinical trial, when 15 mg of Zebbound was administered for 72 weeks, body weight was reduced by up to 22.5%. In the 84-week administration clinical trial, body weight was reduced by an average of 26.6%. Wegobi is known to have an average dose reduction effect of 14.9% over 68 weeks.
Experts estimate that the obesity treatment market will reach $100 billion (about 130 trillion won) by 2030.
Meanwhile, semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) class drug. GLP-1 is known to have several effects, including increasing insulin release from the pancreas and targeting receptors in the brain that cause appetite reduction.
Wegobi is an improved product of ‘Saxenda’, which is well known in Korea as a diet injection, and Novo Nordisk developed it as a product that only needs to be taken once a week, unlike Saxenda, which needs to be taken every day. Novo Nordisk was approved as a type 2 diabetes treatment under the product name Ozempic, a modified version of Saxenda, and in 2021, four years later, it received approval as an obesity treatment under the product name Wigobi.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.