Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd,[3] with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five.

The company makes several drugs under various brand names, including Levemir, Tresiba, NovoLog, Novolin R, NovoSeven, NovoEight, and Victoza.

[14] Novo Nordisk's market capitalization exceeded the GDP of Denmark's domestic economy in 2023, and it is the highest valued company in Europe.

[22] The same year, Novo Nordisk USA moved into new headquarters offices in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey, by way of extensively renovating abandoned premises.

[27] In June, the business announced it would acquire AstraZeneca's spin-off Corvidia Therapeutics for an initial sum of $725 million (up to a performance-related maximum of $2.1 billion), boosting its presence in cardiovascular diseases.

[31] In September 2022, Novo agreed to acquire Forma Therapeutics for $1.1 billion with the intent to expand its sickle cell disease and rare blood disorders portfolio.

[32] By 2022 the popularity of Novo's Wegovy and Ozempic for weight loss was so great as to significantly increase growth of the entire economy of Denmark.

[34] In August 2023, Novo agreed to acquire the Montreal-headquartered pharmaceutical company, Inversago Pharma for $1 billion[35] and Embark Biotech for up to $500 million.

[36] In October 2023, the company announced it would acquire ocedurenone—an experimental drug for uncontrolled hypertension and potentially beneficial in treating cardiovascular and kidney diseases—from KBP Biosciences for $1.3 billion.

On completion, Novo Nordisk said it would acquire three manufacturing facilities from its parent for $11 billion to scale up production to meet the massive demand for Wegovy and Ozempic.

The company's stock jumped to a record high after early trial data showed positive results for its new experimental weight loss pill amycretin.

[42] As of April 2024, the flow of cash from Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drugs was continuing to solidify its status as the most valuable company in Europe, to the point that economists were worried that Denmark might come down with Dutch disease (that is, a country that does only one thing well and nothing else).

[43][44] The company had started to move away from its traditional focus on diabetes care towards a more ambitious mission to "defeat serious chronic diseases", and towards that end, hired over 10,000 people in 2023 alone.

In response to British findings, a National Action Plan (NAP) was developed, with a multidisciplinary steering committee, to support the delivery of individualised person-focused care in the United Kingdom.

[61][62] In October 2024, Novo Nordisk published a study on scientific journal Nature about a novel glucose-sensitive insulin NNC2215 that can reduce the risk of hypoglycemia in animal models.

[65] In September 2018, it was reported that the company would lay off 400 administrative staff, laboratory technicians and scientists, in Denmark and China in order to concentrate research and development efforts on “transformational biological and technological innovation”.

[70] In September 2017, Novo Nordisk agreed to pay $58.7 million to end a United States Department of Justice probe into the lack of FDA disclosure to doctors about the cancer risk for their diabetic drug, Victoza.

[71] In March 2023, Novo Nordisk was suspended from the ABPI for a period of two years, for engaging in misleading marketing practices that amounted to "bribing health professionals with inducement to prescribe".

The Novo Nordisk UK General Manager, Pinder Sahota, chose to resign as President of the ABPI prior to the suspension.

[34] In July 2024, US President Joe Biden joined Sanders in stating "Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly must stop ripping off Americans with high drug prices.

"[76] In September 2024, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen was summoned to testify to the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at a hearing in Washington DC.

[78] As of the 2010s, Anthony Anderson (star of Black-ish) serves as a pitchman for Novo Nordisk, and featured in the company's television advertisements which aired in the US.