Novo Nordisk blueprints $1.2B rare disease production plant in Denmark, where it plans to hire on 400 new staffers

Shortly after unveiling a $400 million upgrade at its campus in Hillerød, Denmark, Novo Nordisk is reinforcing its commitment to the country by breaking ground on the first new production facility in its home country this century.

Novo Nordisk is laying out 8.5 billion Danish kroner (about $1.2 billion) to establish a brand-new manufacturing plant in Odense, Denmark, where the company eventually plans to hire on 400 permanent staffers.

The 40,000-square-meter (430,556-square-foot) modular and flexible factory will be kitted out to produce multiple drugs within rare disease indications, including hemophilia, Novo said in a Monday press release.

Construction has already kicked off on the new site, which will ultimately house both the primary production facility and a warehouse. The company is aiming to complete the project in 2027.

"The facility will utilize advanced technology and innovative equipment to ensure the highest quality to patients and meet the growing global demand for our life-changing medicines,” Henrik Wulff, Novo’s executive vice president of product supply, quality and IT, said in a statement. “We are proud to build on our heritage in Denmark and look forward to embarking on this journey in Odense, a well-connected city with a dynamic community and talented workforce."

Novo’s latest manufacturing announcement comes two weeks after the company said it would invest 2.9 billion kroner ($409 million) in a new quality control laboratory at its existing site in Hillerød. The project, which the company also plans to wrap up in the next three years, represents the Danish drugmaker’s largest investment in advanced quality control to date, Novo said earlier this month.

The two projects are just a piece of Novo’s outsized manufacturing expansion campaign, which has often focused on building out capacity for the company’s GLP-1 injectables for diabetes and obesity.

Back in June, the company said it would use $4.1 billion to construct a second fill-finish facility at its campus in Clayton, North Carolina, to chip in on production of the company’s metabolic blockbusters.

And, earlier this month, Novavax said it was selling a recombinant protein plant in the Czech Republic to Novo for $200 million in a deal the companies expect to close by the end of 2024. Once the transaction is complete, Novo will take control of the facility, along with about 300 staffers who currently work there.

Meanwhile, Novo’s sister company Novo Holdings recently got clearance from both the European Commission and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to close out its $16.5 billion purchase of CDMO giant Catalent.

Under the accord, Novo Nordisk is slated to purchase three Catalent fill-finish plants from Novo Holdings for $11 billion.