Our story begins in 1923 when a Danish couple with roots in science, Marie and August Krogh, heard of the discovery of insulin in Canada. She was among Denmark’s first female medical graduates, while he was a renowned physiologist and Nobel laureate. Marie also had diabetes – a disease considered a death sentence at the time. After they obtained permission to produce insulin in Denmark, two small Danish companies started the production. The two companies, Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorien and Nordisk, finally joined forces in 1989 and thus Novo Nordisk was born.
Today, we are discovering and developing innovative biological medicines and making them accessible to people living with diabetes, obesity, and rare blood and endocrine diseases around the world.
NovoNordisk employs some 80 000 people, with production facilities in 13 countries, including Algeria, Brasil, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Russia, Great Britain and USA. Around half of the world´s insulin is produced by us, whereas we had the opportunity to help over 45 million people with our products last year.
From the early days of Novo Nordisk, our majority owner has been a non-profit, charitable foundation. Through dividends to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, a significant portion of our profit is given back to society to advance scientific research and fund initiatives that benefit the health of people and planet. This takes the form of research grants for scientists (amounting to 10 billion DKK in 2024), insulin access programs for less advanced countries, etc.
In Estonia, Novo Nordisk was established in 1991. At the moment, our team encompasses 20 people with various skill sets ranging from sales to science. We work closely with health care professionals, public officials and other partners. To celebrate our hundred years of heritage, we organize annually a major scientific conference bringing together doctors and other stakeholders across Estonia.
We look forward to meeting you!