Weight-loss drug pioneer Novo Nordisk will invest €432 million in upgrading its Athlone plant to produce the tablet form of its Wegovy therapy.
The company said the Irish tabletting facility would provide significant additional manufacturing capacity for the group’s current and future GLP-1 treatments for markets outside the United States.
The tablet form of the weight-loss drug is now seen as Novo Nordisk’s best route to competing with rival Eli Lilly in the market.
GLP-1s are medicines used to treat diabetes, and for weight loss. They operate by mimicking a hormone that increases insulin production but also make you feel full sooner and slow down the process of feeling hungry again.
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Novo Nordisk said its investment was “a major strategic milestone for the company, which further reinforces Novo Nordisk’s long-term commitment to Ireland and global healthcare innovation”.
Chief executive Mike Doustdar said the launch of Wegovy in pill form in early January had been one of the most successful pharmaceutical debuts ever, with more than 240,000 Americans taking it already.
The Danish group is hoping the pill will form a big part of its fight to reclaim share in a weight-loss market it once dominated and make up ground lost to Eli Lilly, which makes the blockbuster drug Zepbound.
Doustdar said the popularity of Wegovy in pill form could eventually outpace that of the injectable version of the drug, which is quite likely given the ease of taking the medicine.
The Athlone investment will see the company manufacture Wegovy pills here for markets outside the United States. Novo makes the obesity pill for the US market in the US.
“With the investment in the Athlone facility, Novo Nordisk is expanding its production capacities for oral products, which will enable us to meet both current and future global demand outside the US,” said Kasper Bødker Mejlvang, executive vice-president for chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and product supply at Novo Nordisk.
Novo Nordisk acquired the long-established former Elan Drug Technologies plant from Irish-headquartered pharma group Alkermes in 2024 in a deal that was worth €85 million at the time.
Around two years ago, the Danish drugmaker pulled out of plans to build a factory near Dublin. And in September last year, it announced plans to cut up to 75 of the 400 jobs at the Irish plant as part of a 9,000 reduction in headcount worldwide. Headcount has since fallen to 260.
Ireland has become central to the manufacturing network for weight-loss drugs, with Eli Lilly also making ingredients for its version of the medication at plants in Kinsale and, shortly, Limerick.
Novo Nordisk has struggled to compete with Eli Lilly in recent times. Last month, the drugmaker said it expected sales to fall this year as it faced stiff competition in weight-loss drugs and lower prices.
The company last week announced a sharp cut in the price of Wegovy in the US from next year in an effort to undercut Lilly’s price for its Zepbound medication.
[ The weight-loss drug revolution looks like a winner for Ireland’s economyOpens in new window ]
It also disclosed that trial results for next-generation weight-loss drug CagriSema showed that it did not match the weight loss delivered by Zepbound, raising concern for the group’s future.
The group’s shares fell again after the CagriSema results, and have now lost 40 per cent of their value over the past month. At the end of last week, they were trading at $37.45 in New York, close to the level of five years ago when Wegovy first won approval to sell into the US market and just over a quarter of the value at their summer 2024 peak.
Following this week’s update, the whole thesis for Novo now relies on Wegovy pills, according to Intron Health analyst Naresh Chouhan.
The Athlone investment provides Novo Nordisk with additional manufacturing capabilities for oral products, enhances supply, and allows Ireland to serve as a critical hub for servicing markets outside the US, the company said.
Novo Nordisk said construction work on the upgrade had already begun at the 18-hectare site, with completion expected in 2028. – Additional reporting Bloomberg / New York Times
