Who we are
We are a global healthcare company, founded in 1923 and headquartered just outside Copenhagen, Denmark.
Our purpose is to drive change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases such as obesity, and rare blood and rare endocrine diseases.
We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines and working to prevent and ultimately cure the diseases we treat.
We employ more than 44,000 people in 80 offices around the world, and market our products in 170 countries.
Facts & figures
16
production sites in nine countries (Algeria, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Russia, UK and US).
10
research and development centres in five countries (China, Denmark, India, UK and US).
39%
of our employees are located in Denmark.
170
number of countries we provide access to our products.
Careers
A workplace full of opportunities
Life-changing careers
We are a proud life science company united by a common job to discover better treatments for people living with a serious chronic disease.
Our industry is dynamic. And the scientific understanding of the diseases we treat and the people living with them, improves every day. This is a constant reminder that what got us to where we are today is not necessarily what will make us successful in the future.
As an employer, we recognise the need to embrace experimentation and strive for diversity and inclusion to help make better decisions by ensuring that multiple perspectives are considered.
Together, we’re life changing.
Sustainable business
Socially and environmentally responsible
Defeat diabetes
We will not allow the success of our company to be defined by the steady increase in the number of people living with serious chronic diseases, like type 2 diabetes and obesity.
We take no pleasure in the suffering and hardships faced by people living with a chronic disease. In some countries, the financial burden of providing or getting access to medical care puts people at risk of serious health complications.
We are committed to helping societies defeat diabetes, and our strategy is clear – accelerate prevention of type 2 diabetes and obesity, and provide access to affordable care for vulnerable patients in every country.
Our success will be defined by the solutions we bring and the health and well-being of the people and communities benefiting from them.
Pursuing zero environmental impact
We are the first pharmaceutical company to use 100% renewable power in all our global production facilities. We are proud but also motivated to go even further.
With our Circular for Zero strategy, we are starting a journey to achieve zero environmental impact in all our business activities.
We will collaborate proactively with suppliers to reduce the environmental impact across our supply chain, cut CO2 emissions from all our operations and transportation, and solve the end-of-life product waste challenge to eliminate waste.
Marie Darting and Pernille Thomasen, Novo Nordisk Denmark
A partner that helps bring your ideas to life
We work in close collaboration with leading universities and biotech companies worldwide to collaborate and speed up new drug discovery.
We continuously seek new partners with whom we share complementary capabilities and mutual interests, and openly share novel peptide and protein analogues, and antibodies for preclinical research.
We offer easy and free access to selected high-quality and well-characterised compounds to curious and passionate scientists from around the world.
In 1930, Novo delivered insulin to about 40 countries.
Changing diabetes for almost 100 years
Our story starts in 1923 when two small Danish companies started the production of the revolutionary new drug insulin that had just been discovered by two Canadian scientists.
When at last they decided to merge in 1989, they created Novo Nordisk, a company that has been expanding rapidly ever since with leading positions within diabetes care, obesity care, haemophilia care, and growth hormone therapy.
The Novo Nordisk Way
The Novo Nordisk Way is a set of guiding principles which underpins every decision we make. It describes who we are, how we work and what we want to achieve, and sets a clear direction for our company and our employees. Ultimately, it’s a promise we make to each other - and to the millions of patients all over the world who rely on our products to lead full and healthy lives.
In 1923, our Danish founders began a journey to change diabetes. Today, we are thousands of employees across the world with the passion, skills and commitment to drive change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases.
- We aim to lead in all disease areas in which we are active.
- Our key contribution is to discover and develop innovative biological medicines and make them accessible to patients throughout the world.
- Growing our business and delivering competitive financial results is what allows us to help patients live better lives, offer an attractive return to our shareholders and contribute to our communities.
- Our business philosophy is one of balancing financial, social and environmental considerations - we call it 'The Triple Bottom Line'.
- We are open and honest, ambitious and accountable, and treat everyone with respect.
- We offer opportunities for our people to realise their potential.
- We never compromise on quality and business ethics.
Every day, we must make difficult choices, always keeping in mind what is best for patients, our employees and our shareholders in the long run.
It's our way. It's the Novo Nordisk Way.
