Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk is open to invest in technologies that innovate, even personalise treatment for diabetes and obesity, said a top company executive.
Novo’s globally popular Ozempic and Wegovy, used in treating diabetes and obesity, respectively – are both available in India.
“We are looking across the gamut of delivery in innovation, be it gene-based therapy or mRNA technology, for example,” said Jay Thyagarajan, Novo Nordisk Senior Vice President (APAC).
“So we are actually very open to looking at whatever the mechanism of actions that are available …if we can actually complement the portfolio that we are building internally within the company,” Thyagarajan told businessline, without divulging details.
“We will have to move from mass treatment to more personalized, tailored medicine for obesity and diabetes into the future. And we are also looking at if we map the genomes of these patients, is there a way that we could actually target prevention, especially in childhood diabetes and childhood obesity,” he explained.
As they assess “every different platform,” Thyagarajan said, AI and data integration in health further facilitate research into diagnosis, and prediction of diseases in a “more coordinated fashion that will give us more avenues for targeted treatment for specific diseases.”
Novo Nordisk has recently been rebranded as Novo, even as its legal global company name remains Novo Nordisk A/S.
In India, the plan is to bring continuous innovation through partnerships, he said, adding that they were also looking at “co-manufacturing and co-developing in India …. to strengthen the footprint of India for India.”
Supply chain and logistics is also on their radar, he said, outlining areas that Novo was looking to invest in India.
With a patent on Novo’s semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, expiring earlier this year in India, among other markets – a slew of domestic drugmakers entered the fray with their versions of the product.
Thyagarajan said, “For many pharma companies, building an R&D pipeline is the lifeline for growth. We have to constantly innovate and bring new innovative medicines, new ways of delivering the drugs to the patients, and that’s the way that we actually can progress both as a company, but also progress as a society that we live in.”
“Patent expiry is an integral and natural part of the pharmaceutical product lifecycle that many companies go through,” he said, adding that the company was equipped to navigate this evolving landscape. “Price does play a role in a sensitive market like India,” he said, adding that Novo had a history of being able to cater different product offerings with different devices to different socio-economic classes of patients.
In India, the partnerships are only going to grow, he said, adding, “We are in conversations with many companies now to see how we can actually expand this model as we speak.”
The company has manufacturing bases in countries including the US, China, Denmark and France, supplemented by manufacturing hubs in Ireland and more recently Bangladesh, he said.
Published on September 24, 2026
