Few people would probably never have heard of Novo Nordisk, the Danish drug manufacturer, without the discoveries of Svetlana Mojsov, Ph.D., a Macedonian American chemist who is a research associate professor at Rockefeller University.
She and her team discovered the glucagon-like peptide-1, (GLP-1), and uncovered its role in glucose metabolism and the secretion of insulin.
GLP-1 is a hormone produced in the gut when food is eaten. The GLP-1 is then released into the bloodstream, telling the pancreas to start to produce insulin. Small amounts appear to leak directly into the brain, while the rest binds to the Vagus nerve prompting more signals to the brain that manages energy balance controls and the satiety of food intake.
Thanks to her ground-breaking work, Novo Nordisk, (along with some other drug manufacturers), licensed her patents to produce innovative synthetic GLP-1 versions to fight diabetes and obesity.
Novo Nordisk received FDA approval for their synthetic version of GLP-1 called Ozempic in 2017 as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. The FDA in 2021, and the EU in 2022, approved another similar drug under the brand name of Wegovy as a weight loss medication. In 2024, the FDA also approved Wegovy for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes
The drugs received massive demand after celebrities and influencers shared their experiences of weight loss. Now Novo Nordisk has had to hire tens of thousands of new employees and build many new facilities to operate 24/7 to produce enough drugs to match explosive global demand.
New drugs are in the process of being developed – the present drugs are said to be effective but not for all patients – some do not respond to the drugs, while others suffer from the side effects of nausea and diarrhoea.
According to economists the impact of these drugs on Denmark’s GDP in 2023 was significant. GDP grew 1.8% in 2023 and it is estimated that Novo Nordisk boosted the country’s GDP more than 1%!
Novo Nordisk is now Europe’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than $570 billion — bigger than the entire Danish economy.
Photo: Novo Nordisks’ expansion of Kalundborg’s production facilities ready in 2029.
Photo: Courtesy of Rockerfeller University
