Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, has announced a $556 million investment in a sterile preparations expansion project at its facility in Tianjin, China.
 
The new facility will use isolator technology to improve sterility and meet the increasing demands of the Chinese market for Novo’s therapies. The project is expected to be completed by 2027 and will support localized drug production while boosting the company’s production capacity.
 
Novo’s Tianjin plant, which opened in 1994, is one of the company’s strategic production bases and plays a crucial role in the global pharmaceutical supply system. The expansion project commemorates the 30th year of Novo’s China business and was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by representatives from the Danish embassy in China, leaders from the Tianjin municipality, and other government and company officials.

Meeting Demand for Semaglutide

The expansion project comes as Novo tries to meet the growing demand for semaglutide, its top-selling weight loss and diabetes therapy. Semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist that triggers the secretion of insulin from the pancreas in response to changes in blood glucose levels. In 2023, Novo’s GLP-1 diabetes franchise grew by 38% while its obesity care business saw a massive 147% growth, both due to semaglutide. Ozempic and Wegovy, both of which contain semaglutide, contributed heavily to Novo’s $33.7 billion revenue in 2023.
 
To boost supply, in November 2023, Novo announced a $6 billion investment in its manufacturing capacity in Denmark in November 2023. The project involves a new plant that produces active pharmaceutical ingredients, including those used in the company’s GLP-1 products. The funding started with an initial $3.6 billion tranche last year and will continue over the next six years.
 
Additionally, Novo recently acquired manufacturing giant Catalent for $16.5 billion, including three fill-finish sites, to help meet the market demand for its products.