BeijingJune 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Novo Nordisk Foundation Chairman and Novo Nordisk Board Chairman Lars Rebien Sørensen, Novo Nordisk President and CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar, Executive Vice President of International Operations Emil Kongshøj Larsen, Executive Vice President of Global Production and Supply Kasper Bødker Mejlvang, and Global Executive Vice President of Product and Portfolio Strategy Zhou Hong, along with other global management, arrived in China. Following Novo Nordisk’s “full industry chain layout” footprint in China, they will visit Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai to witness and drive the implementation of several key milestones.
- “China Co-Lab“ Results Global Debut: As a milestone achievement of the “China Co-Lab” project’s global synchronized R&D, the world’s first once-weekly basal insulin/GLP-1RA combination, NovoJie® (Icodec Insulin Semaglutide Injection), has been launched in China. China becomes the first country globally for the commercial launch of this product, allowing Chinese patients to benefit earlier from global innovative treatment options.
- Continued Investment in Manufacturing: Novo Nordisk announced an additional investment of 200 million RMB in its strategic production base in Tianjin to enhance the assembly capacity of 1.5ml FlexTouch® injection pens. Upon completion, the project will significantly boost the production capacity and supply efficiency of high-quality products, better meeting the growing and diverse medication needs of Chinese patients.
- Digital Innovation Empowering Patients: Novo Nordisk China’s digital patient service platform, “NovoCare,” has officially launched a public version for diabetes (APP and WeChat mini-program), expanding from “patient-exclusive” to “accessible for all,” further enhancing the accessibility of digital health management services.
Novo Nordisk President and CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar
Novo Nordisk President and CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar stated: “Having visited China multiple times, I deeply feel the vibrant vitality of China’s pharmaceutical market and innovation ecosystem. We see that the ’15th Five-Year Plan’ emphasizes ‘accelerating the building of a Healthy China’ and designates biomedicine as an emerging pillar industry, which further strengthens our confidence in developing in China. As China’s health ecosystem accelerates its upgrade, it is not only fertile ground for multinational pharmaceutical companies to take root but has also become a key engine deeply integrated into the global innovation network, driving the future of health. Novo Nordisk hopes to continue collaborating with China’s innovative forces to jointly reshape the chronic disease prevention and control landscape, build a future-oriented health innovation ecosystem, and create greater value for patients worldwide.”
Staying True to the Mission, Strengthening the Foundation of Full-Chain Development
As one of Novo Nordisk’s highest-level global management visits to China in recent years, this trip is not only a look toward the future but also a tribute to 32 years of deep-rooted development in China. Current Board Chairman Lars Rebien Sørensen, a key driver of Novo Nordisk’s China strategy, has visited China multiple times over the past 20 years, witnessing the company’s evolution from market expansion to deep-rooted full-industry-chain development in the country.
Novo Nordisk Foundation Chairman and Novo Nordisk Board Chairman Lars Rebien Sørensen
In 1994, Novo Nordisk entered China and, within the first three years, established a full industry chain layout covering R&D, production, and commercial operations, including setting up the first R&D center of a multinational pharmaceutical company in China and the Tianjin production plant, one of its global strategic production bases. Since then, the company has continuously increased its investment in China. Today, the “three engines” — the R&D engine in Beijing, the production engine in Tianjin, and the commercial operations and innovation engine in Shanghai — work synergistically to serve Chinese patients. Since 2003, the company has cumulatively invested over 17 billion RMB in China. Through ongoing investment and construction, Novo Nordisk is driving its full industry chain layout in China to unleash greater potential, better serving the Chinese market and local patients.
Leading Innovation, Transforming China from a ‘Destination’ to a ‘Launchpad’
Leveraging over a century of scientific expertise in diabetes and 30 years of exploration in obesity, Novo Nordisk continues to lead breakthroughs in the treatment of serious chronic diseases. To enable Chinese patients to benefit earlier and faster from globally leading innovative treatment options, Novo Nordisk launched the “China Co-Lab” project at the end of 2019. This has already achieved synchronized clinical trials and approvals in China and abroad for two innovative products: NovoQi® (Icodec Insulin) and NovoJie® (Icodec Insulin Semaglutide Injection).
In the obesity treatment field, as the only weight-loss drug currently proven to both reduce weight and lower the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, NovoYing® (Semaglutide for weight management) has become one of the cornerstone treatments for medical weight management. Its stable and clinically meaningful weight reduction effects in long-term weight management, along with improvements in metabolic risk factors such as cardiovascular health shown in multiple studies, are driving the transformation of obesity from lifestyle intervention to standardized, medicalized long-term management. NovoYing® can help approximately one-third of patients achieve a weight loss of over 20%, reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 20%, and provide multiple other health benefits.
Prior to the senior management team’s visit to China, Novo Nordisk also announced that its long-acting growth hormone injection, NovoZeYou® (Pasireotide Growth Hormone), will be fully commercially launched in China this summer, offering a once-weekly treatment option for Chinese pediatric patients aged 2.5 years and older with growth retardation due to insufficient endogenous growth hormone secretion.
To date, the company has had 24 innovative drugs and 12 innovative injection devices approved for marketing in China.
Novo Nordisk is also committed to promoting “Chinese wisdom” to the world. The triple-target receptor agonist UBT251, co-developed by Novo Nordisk and United Laboratories, recently obtained positive data from Phase 2 clinical trials targeting Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes and Chinese patients who are overweight or obese. An increasing number of innovative achievements are setting sail from China, bringing new inspiration and solutions to global chronic disease prevention and treatment.
Embracing Change, Building a ‘Patient-Centric’ Health Ecosystem
Currently, China has approximately 148 million adults with diabetes and about 228 million adults with obesity (with the proportion of obese adults reaching 20.1%, and the combined rate of overweight and obesity among adult residents reaching 56.9%). Facing the burden of chronic diseases and the need for long-term health management, patient behavior is also changing. Patients are becoming more proactive in acquiring disease knowledge, participating in health decisions, and engaging in self-health management, acting as the “first responsible person” for their own health. This shift is reshaping market demands for innovation and services, requiring pharmaceutical companies to continuously evolve across the entire value chain—from R&D to supply, from brand to patient services—to respond faster and more precisely to patients’ changing needs.
‘Light Bus’ National Obesity Science Education Tour Project
Novo Nordisk is actively responding to this trend by accelerating the strategic transformation of its business model. The company is widely collaborating with various partners to build a comprehensive, omni-channel health ecosystem. In the digital field, the company continues to optimize the “NovoCare” service, linking with several online healthcare platforms to upgrade the online health service experience. On the retail and community front, facing societal awareness challenges regarding diseases like obesity, the company has created science education matrices such as the “Scientific Weight Loss, Healthy Lightness” public welfare campaign and the “Light Bus,” established the “Retail Scientific Weight Loss Ecosystem Alliance,” and set up over 1,000 “Lightness Huts” in retail pharmacies nationwide. These efforts effectively open up multiple touchpoints for health services, ensuring that comprehensive support “beyond the pill” reaches more patients.
Dr. Cai Yan, Senior Vice President of Novo Nordisk and President of Novo Nordisk Greater China, stated: “This visit by global management reaffirms Novo Nordisk’s long-term commitment to the Chinese market. Over the past 32 years, Novo Nordisk has actively participated in the development of China’s pharmaceutical and healthcare sector. Facing the increasingly diverse health needs of patients, the responsibility of a century-old pharmaceutical company extends beyond just R&D and providing innovative drugs. We must step out of the lab and the clinic, follow the patients’ journey, and engage in broader health management services. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with all partners to enhance disease awareness, promote the construction of a full-cycle health management system, and effectively safeguard the health and lives of patients.”