Novo Nordisk’s new manufacturing facility in Clayton, North Carolina.
Courtesy: Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk on Monday stated it can spend $4.1 billion to construct a brand new manufacturing plant in Clayton, North Carolina, in a bid to increase the provision of its blockbuster weight reduction drug Wegovy, diabetes therapy Ozempic and different injectable therapies.
Demand for Wegovy and Ozempic has outstripped provide over the past yr, spurring intermittent shortages within the U.S. and forcing the Danish drugmaker to take a position closely to extend its manufacturing footprint. The corporate stated it plans to take a position $6.8 billion in manufacturing this yr, up from roughly $4 billion final yr.
The brand new manufacturing facility will likely be accountable for filling and packaging syringes and injection pens for the medication, based on an organization launch.
“This funding actually provides us the chance to serve extra sufferers,” Doug Langa, Novo Nordisk’s head of North American operations, stated in an interview. “Importantly, I believe the opposite key message right here is it is additional funding within the U.S., so I believe we’re very pleased with that.”
Development of the 1.4 million-square-foot facility has begun and is predicted to be accomplished between 2027 and 2029, Novo Nordisk stated. The corporate stated 1,000 employees will employees the positioning, including to the two,500 workers already working at its three current manufacturing crops in North Carolina.
That features two websites which are already operational in Clayton — one accountable for fill and end work and one other devoted to producing the lively ingredient in medication akin to Wegovy and Ozempic. The corporate additionally has a website in Durham, North Carolina, accountable for manufacturing and packaging oral medication, akin to its diabetes capsule Rybelsus, and one other facility in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Twelve different manufacturing websites are positioned in Denmark, France, China, Japan, Algeria, Brazil, Iran and Russia, based on a Novo Nordisk spokesperson.
Three decrease, so-called starter doses of Wegovy are presently in scarcity within the U.S. attributable to excessive demand, based on a Meals and Drug Administration database. Sufferers begin Wegovy with decrease doses and step by step enhance the quantity each 4 weeks till they attain a goal dosage.
Wegovy and Ozempic are a part of a category of medicines referred to as GLP-1s that mimic hormones produced within the intestine to suppress an individual’s urge for food and regulate their blood sugar.
Round 35,000 U.S. sufferers on common begin Wegovy every week in the present day, up from roughly 27,000 in Might, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson stated in an announcement. Nonetheless, Langa stated the corporate is being “very purposeful” about what number of decrease doses it’s releasing into the U.S. market to make sure sufferers who’ve already began taking Wegovy can proceed therapy with increased doses.
Rival drugmaker Eli Lilly has additionally dedicated billions of {dollars} to extend manufacturing capability for its well-liked GLP-1s for weight reduction and diabetes, Zepbound and Mounjaro. The corporate equally has a number of manufacturing crops in North Carolina.
