Welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service. Hi there, I'm Adrienne Murray. In the first of two episodes looking at the growing industry behind anti-obesity drugs, I'll be examining the Nova Effect. From its home in Denmark, a country of just six million people, I'll explore how Novo Nordisk,

the farmer giant behind a game-changing weight loss drug, and now Europe's most valuable company,

is having an outsized impact on the Danish economy.

This is the largest ever. There are the big companies in Denmark that also play a big role

in the economy, but nothing on this scale.

And I'll visit the tiny Danish town that's now the unlikely epicenter of a global trade in anti-obesity drugs.

We have a growth rate of 26.88% in one year.

26? Yes.

That's the sound of a factory line,

producing one of the world's most in-demand medicines.

Inside this facility, a little outside of Copenhagen, injection pens are assembled,

then loaded with tiny glass capsules containing a clear liquid called semi-glutide.

Then batch after batch, their box ready for shipping around the world.

Blue pens are a Zempic, a treatment for type 2 diabetes. Others with brand labels

are Wigovi, a weekly weight loss jab for those who are severely overweight. Both brands are

made from the same ingredient, semi-glutide, which suppresses appetite and belongs to a class of drugs

called GLP-1s.

This new generation of treatments is turbocharged the market for anti-abasy drugs

and triggered an industry gold rush.

And far from a household name outside of Denmark,

it's catapulted Nova Nordisk into the spotlight and transformed the company.

Emily Field is head of European Pharmaceutical Equity Research at Barclays.

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