Novo Nordisk, maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, dates its founding to a 1923 insulin lab
The company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy started as a Danish insulin operation in 1923, and the foundation ownership set up then still controls it.
Novo Nordisk traces its founding to December 21, 1923, the date the Danish drugmaker lists as its start, when insulin production began in Denmark under the arrangement that became Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium [1]. More than a century later, the same company makes Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide), among the most widely discussed GLP-1 medicines in the United States [1].
From a lecture tour to a factory
August Krogh and his wife Marie became interested in insulin while on an American lecture tour in 1923, and changed their itinerary to meet insulin discoverers Frederick Banting, John Macleod, Charles Best and James Collip [1]. August Krogh received permission to produce insulin in Denmark. He and Hans Christian Hagedorn, with funding and facilities support from August Kongsted, began experimenting with ways to extract and purify insulin from fish and rabbit pancreases [1].
The research and production arm, known as the Insulin Laboratory, ran as a unit of Kongsted's pharmaceutical company, Løvens Kemiske Fabrik. Kongsted rented a factory in Emdrup, Denmark, in late 1923 to help meet demand for insulin [1].
The Insulin Laboratory and the factory were spun off into a new company, Nordisk Insulin Laboratorium, in July 1924 [1]. That is later than the December 1923 date the company uses as its founding [1]. The company was created alongside a foundation, and the three men served on the boards of both. Foundation board membership barred them from profiting on the sale of insulin. The foundation and Nordisk Insulin signed articles of association in 1926, and the foundation received tax-exempt status by royal decree in January 1927 [1].
A rival, a merger, and the company today
In 1925, brothers Harald and Thorvald Pedersen, former Nordisk employees, formed Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium. The two companies competed until they merged in 1989 to become Novo Nordisk A/S [1].
Today Novo Nordisk is headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, and its product list includes Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda and Victoza [1]. It is controlled by Novo Holdings A/S, which is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and holds approximately 28.1% of its shares and 77.1% of its voting shares [1]. Revenue for 2025 was 309.1 billion Danish kroner, with operating income of 127.7 billion kroner and net income of 102.4 billion kroner [1]. Net sales in 2024 were US$42.121 billion [1]. The company's market value exceeded the size of Denmark's domestic economy in 2023, and it is the highest valued company in Europe [1].
Employment figures in the company's profile do not match each other. The overview says Novo employs more than 48,000 people globally and markets products in 168 countries, while the company data table lists 68,794 employees for 2025 [1].
Why it matters for patients
The company that now supplies a large share of US GLP-1 prescriptions began as an insulin producer, and the ownership structure built around that insulin work still governs it [1]. A foundation — not ordinary shareholders — controls the company through Novo Holdings' 77.1% of voting shares [1]. Big decisions about the medicines patients take therefore rest with a concentrated owner rather than a dispersed group of investors.
The product line runs continuously from insulin, with NovoRapid, Fiasp, Levemir and Tresiba listed among its products, to the GLP-1 medicines that drive current demand [1]. Whether that history affects US prices, insurance coverage or supply has not been reported. The company has not disclosed in these materials any plans tied to the December 21 founding date, and no anniversary events or announcements have been described.
Sources
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