Travel to the (not at all idyllic) town where Ozempic is made

Kalundborg (Denmark)Kalundborg (17,000 inhabitants) looks like any other Danish industrial town, where very little happens. Located 95 kilometres from Copenhagen, it has a freight port, most of the houses are single-family homes and on the main street there are a couple of clothes shops, hairdressers and a few cafés.

But despite what it may seem, the dozens of cranes surrounding the town give a clue that Kalundborg has something that any average town would envy. This is where the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk produces the drug Ozempic. In recent years, this diabetes drug has been associated with a miracle solution for people losing weight, which has also dramatically increased the pharmaceutical company's revenues. Denmark's Novo Nordisk has done very well, to the point that it has become the most valuable company in Europe. In 2024, its revenues will rise again by 25% to 290 billion kroner (38.8 billion euros), with profits of 13.535 billion euros.

For Kalundborg, having one of the world's leading companies has boosted its economic growth and one of the highest GDPs among Danish municipalities. Today, 4,400 employees work in Novo Nordisk's factories - almost a quarter of the town's residents, where unemployment is virtually non-existent. Over the company's 50 years here, it has provided stable jobs with high salaries and good working conditions, and the industries around it have benefited as well.

At the entrance to the city, the presence of trucks and heavy machinery makes it clear that construction work to expand the Novo Nordisk factory is in full swing. In 2023, the pharmaceutical company announced an investment of 5.6 billion euros in Kalundborg. When the work is completed in four years, another 1,250 jobs will be created. In addition, the city's growth is also booming with the construction of a motorway and a new university campus dedicated to biotechnology, which is expected to attract up to 1,500 students. "We are on the way to becoming a hub "biotechnology at an international level," explained Jan Lysgaard Thomsen, technical director of Kalundborg.

Strange as it may seem, there is a feeling in the city that Novo Nordisk's success is not reflected in the streets, which, according to local residents, look rather empty and sad. Brian Sønder Andersen, spokesman for the merchants' association, gives the example of the main street, where despite the wealth in the city, new businesses fail to thrive: "Ten years ago we had the same shops, some businesses open, but have to close soon after." Andersen justifies this by the fact that "most of the Novo Nordisk employees do nothing in the city, they come in the morning, work and leave by car in the evening." This coming and going has created serious traffic problems, says Andersen, adding: "The city was not prepared for the rapid growth of Novo Nordisk, we lack services, infrastructure and cultural offerings."

In other businesses, such as the local supermarket chain, manager Keld Haapanen explains that he loses employees who prefer to work at the pharmaceutical factory: "I simply cannot offer the same salary as at Novo Nordisk." Haapanen also complains that the town is unattractive to live in and that over the past fifteen years Kalundborg's population has slightly decreased rather than increased: "What should the workers do after finishing their work? If you walk around the town, there is nothing to do."

Another indicator where the effects of Novo Nordisk's unbridled growth are also noticeable is in the housing market, especially after the arrival of 3,000 workers to work on the pharmaceutical company's expansion: "In one year, the price of rent has risen by 20% and there are no houses to buy either," admits the agent.

Kalundborg is also plagued by a number of social problems that have not been addressed over the years. It may seem paradoxical, but in the city where half of the world's insulin is produced, the obesity rate among schoolchildren is 25 percent - higher than the national average. Pupils also perform poorly in mathematics and language at school, which councillor Helle Laursen Petersen attributes to the deteriorating schools and a lack of experienced teachers: "If we want to attract families of Novo Nordisk workers to Kalundborg, we need to raise the standard of the schools," says Petersen.

From the council, Jan Lysgaard Thomsen admits that the city has some challenges regarding the transformation that it is undergoing due to the growth of the pharmaceutical company, but he also points out that it would not be the same without the company's headquarters: "In the last twenty years they have invested 18 billion crowns (2.413 million euros) in the city, without counting them." Thomsen is confident that in the coming years the city will become more international, more young people will come to live there and services will improve: "Every day you hear more English spoken in the shops," he exemplifies.