Novo Nordisk (Ozempic)

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2024

⏱️ 225 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last year Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company behind Ozempic and Wegovy, overtook LVMH to become Europe’s most valuable company. And the pull for Acquired to finally tackle healthcare (18% of US GDP!) became too strong for us to resist. While we didn’t know much about Novo Nordisk before diving in, our first thought was, “wow, seems like these new diabetes and obesity drugs mean serious trouble for big insulin companies.”

And then… we realized that Novo Nordisk IS the big insulin company. And in a story befitting of Steve Jobs and Apple, they’d just disrupted themselves with the drug equivalent of an iPhone moment. Once we dug further, we quickly realized this company has it all: an incredible 100+ year history filled with Nobel Prizes, bitter personal rivalries, board room dramas, a generation-defining silicon valley innovation, lone voices persevering against all odds — and oh yeah, the world’s largest charitable foundation at its helm. Tune in for one incredible story!

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right first episode back. Let's see if I can do this sleep deprived.
0:04.0	Oh, you and me both bad.
0:07.0	Who got the truth?
0:10.0	Is it you, is it you, is it you, is it you, who got the truth now?
0:15.0	Is it you, is it you, is it you, is it you,
0:18.0	is it you?
0:19.0	Sit me down, say it straight, another story on the way who got the truth.
0:25.0	Welcome to season 14 episode 1 of acquired the podcast about great companies and the stories and
0:31.2	and playbooks behind them. I'm Ben Gilbert.
0:33.3	I'm David Rosenthal and we are your hosts.
0:36.2	Today's episode is on the company behind the sensational diabetes and weight loss drugs,
0:41.8	Ozemphic, and We Govey. The company is Novo Nordisk.
0:46.0	Now when I first learned about Ozempeck a few years ago,
0:49.0	I thought, of course this is going to be amazing for a lot of people
0:52.0	and could also completely
0:54.0	destroy the market for insulin. Those insulin companies better watch out. But here
0:59.0	is the fascinating thing listeners. Novo Nordisk is the company behind insulin, or at least one of the few big ones.
1:06.8	Now you might say, well that's okay because they're probably a big pharmaceutical company that's
1:11.2	you know very diversified with lots of different drugs. a revenue is concentrated in the category of metabolic health.
1:23.9	They have been the insulin and diabetes company for the last 100 years.
1:29.2	And perhaps even more surprising, this pharma giant is unique in that they are owned and controlled by a
1:34.7	nonprofit foundation. The stats around weight diabetes and its impact on our
	...

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