Novo Nordisk's plant in Kalundborg, Denmark, the company's largest, has been pumping out products for nearly 45 years. When Novo ($NVO) needs a new product, it upgrades some portion of the plant and starts anew. That is what it is doing again.
The company said it will spend DKK380 million ($66.8 million) to convert existing capacity to manufacture semaglutide, a once-weekly GLP-1 analogue the company is developing for treating type 2 diabetes. It said the project is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2014. It will add 50 jobs to the 2,400 already working at the mammoth manufacturing facility.
The plant in Kalundborg has been around since 1969 and covers 135 hectares, or more than 14.5 million square feet. Novo says it has invested more than DKK7.5 billion ($1.3 billion) in the plant over the years and added more than 1,000 jobs there.
The company has another DKK2 billion ($351.8 million) in plant projects under way in Denmark. That includes a new biologics facility in Kalundborg for manufacturing growth hormone and hemophilia medicine. It also is expanding its Bagsværd plant. In February that facility received an FDA warning letter criticizing it for failing to keep on top of environmental testing.
- here's the release
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