While much of the attention on Novo Nordisk these days revolves around the company’s wildly popular GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, insulin remains a critical backbone for the drugmaker.
Now, as the company steadily ups its commitments in Asia, Novo is teaming up with Indonesia’s state-owned pharmaceutical firm Bio Farma to bolster insulin packaging in the southeast Asian nation.
Under a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on production of diabetes drugs, Novo will bring in its know-how in diabetes care and insulin manufacturing while Bio Farma will contribute its local facilities, the Indonesian company said in a Tuesday press release (Indonesian).
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to Fierce Pharma’s request for comment on the new insulin accord, though a company spokesperson told Reuters the deal is focused squarely on packaging, rather than direct production in Indonesia.
Novo manufactures its insulin in Denmark and the United States, the company's spokesperson told Reuters.
An estimated 19.5 million people are living with diabetes in Indonesia, according to Bio Farma. That figure is expected to increase to 28.6 million by 2045. Through the deal, Novo and Bio Farma say they hope to help nearly one million diabetes patients in the next decade.
While insulin remains a critical treatment for many diabetes patients, the protein has faded as a major sales driver for diabetes drugmakers as a new generation of GLP-1 meds has hit the scene.
Over in the United States, Novo recently landed in hot water with three Senators over its decision to discontinue its long-acting insulin product Levemir, which was up for a steep discount at the top of 2024. Back in April, a Novo spokesperson confirmed that both Levemir FlexPen and Levemir vials would be discontinued on Dec. 31, 2024, without addressing the senators’ letter directly.
Last year, Ozempic alone brought home 95.7 billion Danish kroner (about $13.8 billion). At the same time, Novo's entire insulin portfolio—primarily propped up by fast-acting insulins—charted full-year 2023 sales of 48 billion kroner (roughly $7 billion).