The choices we make at this pivotal moment for our company are key to shaping our long-term vision – one that extends beyond strengthening leadership positions in our core therapy areas to becoming a driving force for improving human health worldwide.
As our business continues to grow, so does our role
in society. The global burden of serious chronic diseases casts
a long shadow, and demands innovative, disruptive solutions that
are as sustainable as they are impactful. Our core contribution
to this fight remains our industry-leading therapeutic
innovations, which benefited more than 40 million people living
with serious chronic diseases in 2023. Yet we are also
increasingly focused on prevention as we seek to understand and
address the root causes of the diseases we treat.
The unmet needs in type 2 diabetes and obesity are growing by the day, and the rising prevalence of these closely related threats to global health has created surging demand for our GLP-1-based therapies. This has enabled us to reach more patients than at any point in our 100-year history, contributing to strong sales growth across North America and International Operations. However, it has also increased pressure on our supply chain, resulting in periodic constraints across our portfolio as we strive to keep pace with demand.
We have responded by investing heavily in expanding our production
capacity with the aim of serving millions more patients worldwide. In
2023 alone, we announced investments totalling more than DKK 75
billion in the expansion of our production sites across the globe.
With construction now underway on these projects, we strive to operate
our existing facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as we
produce more of our life-changing medicines than ever before.
Our response to supply challenges does not stop there. We are also
changing the way we launch and distribute our products, making sure we
do this in a responsible manner with a clear focus on safeguarding
access to appropriate treatment options for our existing patients.
Recent examples of this refined approach include the launches of
Wegovy® in the UK and Germany, where we are collaborating with health
authorities to ensure that some of those in greatest need of medical
intervention can access our flagship obesity therapy.
Improving health equity remains a cornerstone of our commitment to patients, and we are working hard to enhance access to care worldwide. Our new production partnership with manufacturer Aspen Pharmaceuticals in South Africa will significantly increase the supply of affordable insulin to the African continent, while long-established initiatives, including Changing Diabetes® in Children and our Access to Insulin Commitment, continue to support vulnerable patients in low- and middle-income countries. In the US, a growing number of people living with serious chronic diseases have been able to access our expanded range of affordability offerings, which include unbranded biologics, low-cost human insulin and our Patient Assistance Program.
Despite these efforts, the burden of chronic diseases on healthcare
systems is only set to grow, pushing us to break new ground in our
pursuit of innovative treatments. To this end, we are building a
pipeline of considerable breadth and depth, powered by the interplay
between our world-class in-house R&D capabilities and an
increasing focus on external innovation and business development. Our
distinct ownership structure, with the Novo Nordisk Foundation
retaining the majority vote, gives us the security we need to take a
long-term perspective on our investments and strategies.
The past year has seen us make significant progress on our
pipeline. The SELECT trial showed that semaglutide 2.4 mg reduces
the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 20% in people
with obesity compared to placebo, prompting us to seek label updates
for Wegovy®, while the FLOW kidney outcomes trial for semaglutide
closed early following a positive analysis of interim data. Novel
combination therapy CagriSema entered phase 3 development in both
type 2 diabetes and obesity, and insulin icodec, potentially the
world’s first once-weekly basal insulin, is pending regulatory
approval. We have also expanded our footprint in cardiovascular
disease with the acquisition of ocedurenone for uncontrolled
hypertension, and bolstered our late-stage pipeline in rare blood
disorders with phase 3 trials of Mim8 in haemophilia and etavopivat
in sickle cell disease.
Furthermore, we continue to reap the rewards of recent partnerships and investments in novel technology platforms, with our first-ever RNA interference-derived therapy, Rivfloza™, now approved in the US. The recent expansion of our R&D presence in the Greater Boston area – a world-renowned life sciences cluster – will potentially open the door to even more collaboration opportunities as we seek to accelerate our drug discovery and development efforts.
Nevertheless, we understand that it will take more than medicine to
transition from a disease-focused company to one that prioritises
broader human health to the benefit of society at large. Leveraging a
decade’s worth of insights from our pioneering Cities Changing
Diabetes programme, we are enhancing our prevention efforts, expanding
our partnership with UNICEF to address childhood obesity, and
establishing a Transformational Prevention Unit to deliver scalable,
preventive solutions to the obesity pandemic.
Innovation plays an equally important role in our ambition to
reach net zero emissions across our entire value chain by 2045 –
particularly with our manufacturing output at an all-time high. Having
already switched our production sites to sourcing 100% renewable
power, we are now supporting a similar transition among our
60,000-plus network of suppliers, with the aim of significantly
cutting carbon emissions across our supply chain.
The resilience and dedication of our growing global workforce
have been instrumental in scaling our operations in the face of
unprecedented demand. As we onboard more colleagues than ever before,
we are focusing on making Novo Nordisk a more diverse and inclusive
place to work, nurturing a culture built on openness, accountability
and respect. Above all, we remain a purpose-driven company, guided by
a clear ambition to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases,
building on our heritage in diabetes. Our position today in the
vanguard of progressive global businesses is a testament to the
strength and longevity of that purpose – and to the drive and
motivation it provides for our people all over the world.
We would like to extend our gratitude to all colleagues for their unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions during a particularly demanding year, and to our shareholders for their continued support of our company.
Helge Lund
Chair of the Board of Directors
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen
President
and CEO