Novo Nordisk today announced plans to invest $4.1bn (approximately kr27bn) to build a second fill and finishing manufacturing facility in Clayton, North Carolina, and grow its ability to produce current and future injectable treatments for people with obesity and other serious chronic diseases.

Marking one of the largest manufacturing investments in Novo Nordisk’s history, the expansion will add 1.4 million square feet of production space for aseptic manufacturing and finished production processes, doubling the combined square footage of all three of the company’s existing facilities in North Carolina. It will also create 1,000 jobs, adding to the nearly 2,500 Novo Nordisk employees already working in the region, a central hub for innovation and biotechnology in the United States.

“It took us a century to reach 40 million patients, but through this expansion and continued investment in our global production, we’re building Novo Nordisk’s ability to serve millions more people living with serious chronic diseases in the future,” said Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk. “This is yet another real signal of our efforts to scale up our production to meet the growing global need for our life-changing medicines and the patients of tomorrow.”

Utilising state-of-the-art technology, roof-top solar panels and innovative water strategies, the facility is designed in an efficient and environmentally sustainable way to deliver the highest-quality products to patients around the world. The goal is to obtain LEED Gold certification, which is recognised as a standard of excellence in constructing healthy, efficient, carbon and cost-saving green buildings.

“Clayton was the first manufacturing site for Novo Nordisk in the US, and this new, large-scale investment confirms the continued importance of our production facilities there as cornerstones of our company’s growth,” said Henrik Wulff, executive vice-president of Product Supply, Quality & IT at Novo Nordisk. “For decades, we have partnered to foster a well-trained, dedicated and diverse local workforce in North Carolina. In Clayton and across our global manufacturing sites, we are driven by one purpose: to deliver more for the millions of people living with chronic diseases – and this facility will help us achieve just that.”

Early clearing and foundational work are already underway to prepare the 56-acre facility footprint. Construction will gradually be finalised between 2027 and 2029. Around 2,000 external contractors will be engaged at the height of the project.

“It’s a historic day for Johnston County,” said Butch Lawter, chair of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners, who, at today’s press conference, announced county grants to further support the expansion project. “Thirty-one years ago, Novo Nordisk decided to make a new home here in Clayton. Then, in 2016, they announced a new facility right across the street ‒ the single largest life sciences investment on state record at the time. Today, they’re breaking that record again… with a third facility, 1,000 new jobs and a vote of confidence in the partnerships we have forged in the community over the decades.”

In 2024, Novo Nordisk will increase actual investments in production and plans to invest approx $6.8bn (kr45bn) in production compared to actual investments of $3.9bn (kr26bn) last year (not including acquisitions) to increase supply.