The name Kalundborg may not mean anything to you. It is a small Danish city with a population of around 17,000 and for some reason it doesn’t need to be known. But Ozempic certainly looks familiar. Ozempic has quickly become one of the most well-known drugs in the world, not as a diabetes medicine, but as part of a weight loss treatment.

The effect of this drug produced by the Novo Nordisk company is such that the city of Kalundborg turns into gold. Why? This is where Ozempic’s largest production facility is located, but this explosion of popularity can have side effects.

Beyond diabetes. Novo Nordisk is a century-old company. It was founded in December 1923 and was dedicated to the marketing of insulin from the beginning. This Danish company is the queen of insulin production worldwide, but everything has exploded thanks to Ozempic, a weight-loss drug based on semaglutide.

Although it was an anti-diabetes drug, its transformation into a miraculous solution to the fight against excess weight had a serious economic impact for both Novo Nordisk and the small town of Kalundborg. There are those who claim that these semaglutide injections for non-diabetics carry a number of health risks, but their popularization by famous people and the fact that it “works” has pushed the drug’s popularity into the stratosphere.

Ozempic Effect. However, it is not only used in the treatment of diabetes and excess weight. There are laboratories testing Ozempic to treat metabolic liver disease, other heart diseases, and even complications related to kidney disease. And all this leaves millions and millions of people in the company and in Denmark. This is called the “Ozempic effect” because it not only makes Novo Nordisk the most valuable company in Europe, but also contributes significantly to the country’s GDP.

investment frenzy. And so we arrive in Kalundborg. A report published by the BBC states that the popularity of the drug prompted the company responsible to invest heavily in the city. Specifically, $8.6 billion for local facility expansion. The city will thus further strengthen itself as the nerve center of global semaglutide production.

All this, obviously, stimulates all branches of the local economy. For example, once the facility is completed and researchers arrive at a new training center focused on biotechnology, more homes will be needed. A highway is currently being built that will connect the city to the capital, as well as more than 1,200 homes.

And the results. It’s something that gives new life to this city. Mayor Martin Damm, in his statement to the BBC, stated that “They have a growth rate of 26.88% in one year.” Ten years ago we had a fairly high unemployment rate, but now it is one of the lowest in the world. Island of Zealand” – an island in the east of Denmark.

Stores are opening, existing ones are being revitalized, tax revenues have increased tenfold in the last decade, local taxes to support infrastructure and public services investments have decreased sixfold in the last decade, and ultimately everyone is noticing this flow. money. The mayor himself gives an example of a local gas station whose owner prepares more than 30 pounds of pork each day to make sandwiches for workers, or the sales multiplied by five experienced by supermarkets.

Don’t be afraid of the Nokia effect. Many Danish citizens also have shares in Novo Nordisk, but it is feared that something similar to what happened to Nokia will happen. Las Olsen, chief economist at Danske Bank, says Novo Nordisk’s current size is comparable to Nokia’s size in 2007. Nokia’s decline had a significant impact on Finland, which had been dependent on the phone company for years. .

Olsen comments that this situation “is a reminder that we need to ensure that the rest of the economy continues to invest in education and infrastructure to avoid future risks.” Economist Mads Lundby Hansen points in the same direction, commenting: “While Novo Nordisk’s performance is impressive, we must not forget the other 99% of the economy. To maintain a resilient economy, we must continue to invest in education and infrastructure.”

And everything… by chance? The most curious thing in all this is not that Novo Nordisk has grown so much thanks to a drug used for a completely different purpose than its original purpose, or that a company has rapidly increased the GDP of a country, but that Ozempic has not grown so much. they never existed.

Kurt Jacobsen, author of a book about Novo Nordisk, told the BBC: “The company management did not believe in semaglutide. Thanks to the insistence of the research director, it was decided to continue its development.” “In 2005 and 2006”. If the bubble collapses, we will see if the rebound effect that Ozempic had will also be experienced in Denmark, in Kalundborg.

Pictures | HualinXMN

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