HQ Team
June 25, 2024: Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical multinational, will invest $4.1 billion to build a new factory in the US to make injection treatments for its obesity and chronic disease drugs, according to a company statement.
The facility will be set up in Clayton, North Carolina to produce current and future injectable treatments, and the expansion will add 2.4 million square feet for aseptic manufacturing and finished production space. It is the company’s second “fill and finishing” manufacturing plant. The fill-finish is defined as filling injection pens for its weight-loss treatment Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic.
It aims to create a central hub for innovation and biotechnology in the US. The factory will have roof-top solar panels and innovative water strategies designed efficiently, and in an environmentally sustainable way to deliver the highest-quality products to patients.
Clearing and foundational work were underway to prepare the 56-acre facility footprint. Construction will gradually be finalised between 2027 and 2029. Around 2,000 external contractors will be engaged at the peak of the project.
“It took us a century to reach 40 million patients, but through this expansion and continued investment in our global production, we’re building Novo Nordisk’s ability to serve millions more people living with serious chronic diseases in the future,” said Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk.
Rise in investments
“This is yet another real signal of our efforts to scale up our production to meet the growing global need for our life-changing medicines and the patients of tomorrow.”
In 2024, Novo Nordisk will increase actual investments in production and plans to invest about $6.8 billion in production compared to actual investments of $3.9 billion last year* to increase supply, according to the statement.
“Clayton was the first manufacturing site for Novo Nordisk in the US, and this new, large-scale investment confirms the continued importance of our production facilities there as cornerstones of our company’s growth,” said Henrik Wulff, executive vice president, Product Supply, Quality & IT, Novo Nordisk.
“For decades, we have partnered to foster a well-trained, dedicated and diverse local workforce in North Carolina. In Clayton and across our global manufacturing sites, we are driven by one purpose: to deliver more for the millions of people living with chronic diseases – and this facility will help us achieve just that.
