Novo Nordisk invests $190 million in new Danish plant, AstraZeneca sells Astra Tech

Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk (NVO: N) said this morning that it is investing close to 1 billion Danish kroner ($192 million euros) in a new factory in Kalundborg, Denmark, for the production of biopharmaceuticals such as hemophilia medicines, growth hormone and other current and future pharmaceuticals. The factory is expected to create 120–150 new jobs in Kalundborg over the next three years.

“We need to expand our production capacity to meet the future demand for our existing products, but also to be ready to produce future haemophilia products that are in the pipeline,” said Per Valstorp, senior vice president, product supply, at Novo Nordisk.

The new factory will cover formulation, freeze-drying, filling and packaging of a range of Novo Nordisk’s biopharmaceuticals, including NovoSeven (recombinant Factor VIIa) for haemophilia (which generated sales of 2.13 billion kroner in the first quarter of this year), the growth hormone Norditropin (with fist-quarter turnover of 1.25 billion kroner) and the glucagon product GlucaGen.