Novo Nordisk to increase production of Wegovy and Ozempic with new CNC facility | Wilnesh News

Novo Nordisk The company said on Monday it would spend $4.1 billion to build a new manufacturing plant in Clayton, North Carolina, to increase supply of its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, diabetes treatment Ozempic and other injectable therapies.

Demand for Wegovy and Ozempic exceeded supply last year, causing intermittent shortages in the United States and forcing the Danish drugmaker to invest heavily to expand its production. The company said it plans to invest $6.8 billion in production this year, up from about $4 billion last year.

The new production facility will be responsible for filling and packaging syringes and pens for the drug, according to a release from the company.

“This investment really gives us the opportunity to serve more patients,” Doug Langa, head of Novo Nordisk’s North American operations, said in an interview. “Importantly, I think the other key message here is further support for the U.S. investment, so I think we’re very proud of that.”

Novo Nordisk said construction has begun on the 1.4 million square foot facility and is expected to be completed between 2027 and 2029. The company said it would add 1,000 employees to its existing 2,500 employees. There are three manufacturing plants in North Carolina.

including two Clayton’s operational sites — One fills and finishes the work, the other produces the active ingredients for drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic. The company also has a facility in Durham, North Carolina, where it makes and packages oral medications such as the diabetes drug Rybelsus, and another facility in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.

A Novo Nordisk spokesman said the other 12 production sites are in Denmark, France, China, Japan, Algeria, Brazil, Iran and Russia.

Three lower doses of Wegovy are currently in short supply in the U.S. due to high demand, according to the FDA database. Patients were started on a lower dose of Wegovy and gradually increased the dose each week until they reached their target dose.

Wegovy and Ozempic are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1, which mimic hormones produced in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate blood sugar.

An average of about 35,000 U.S. patients are now starting to use Wegovy each week, a Novo Nordisk spokesman said in a statement, up from about 27,000 in May. Still, Langa said the company was “very purposeful” in deciding how much of the lower dose to release into the U.S. market to ensure that patients who had already started taking Wegovy could continue to receive the higher dose.

Competitor pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Company The company has also committed billions of dollars to increase production capacity of its popular weight loss and diabetes treatments GLP-1, Zepbound and Mounjaro. The company also has multiple manufacturing facilities in North Carolina.