STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk announced on Monday an investment of 8.5 billion crowns (1.14 billion euros) in a new factory in Odense, Denmark, to produce medicines against rare diseases.

Novo Nordisk, Europe’s largest market capitalization and producer of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy, bought the roughly 800-square-meter site in July to build a new factory, without specifying what type of drugs would be there. products.

Reuters reported at the time that, according to an environmental document submitted to Danish authorities in January, the plans included facilities for filling injection pens, a process known as fill-finish.

The group announced Monday that the site will include a warehouse and a factory, without immediately responding to a request for comment on possible changes since July.

“Designed to be modular and flexible, it will accommodate several types of products for rare diseases, such as hemophilia,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement.

This site will be Novo Nordisk’s first in Odense and the group’s first new factory in Denmark since the turn of the century.

Construction work has begun and is expected to be completed in 2027, when the factory is expected to create 400 permanent jobs. During construction, up to 1,000 external employees will work on site, the group said.

Novo Nordisk has announced billions of dollars in investments this year, including $4.1 billion (€3.91 billion) to build a factory in the United States to fill injection pens for Wegovy and Ozempic.

Novo Nordisk shares were up around 1.86% around 10:50 GMT.

(Written by Anna Ringstrom; with contributions from Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Elena Smirnova; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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