Novo Nordisk invests 1.5 bln kroner on new facility

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced on Monday that it would invest 1.5 billion Danish kroner (about 224 million U.S. dollars) in a new facility manufacturing products for treating haemophilia, a disease of bleeding disorder.

Groundbreaking for the facility took place on Monday in Kalundborg, some 100 km west of the capital city of Copenhagen.

"The investment in Kalundborg underscores our long-term ambition to create and maintain jobs in Denmark," said Henrik Wulff, executive vice president of Novo Nordisk Product Supply.

According to the company, the 7,500-square-meter facility will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for NovoSeven and future products for treating haemophilia, which affects 1 in 10,000 people. People with haemophilia have either decreased, defective or absent production of blood clotting protein.

The facility is expected to be approved and fully operational in 2020, the company said in a statement.

The investment is estimated to create 100 new jobs in Kalundborg, where Novo Nordisk currently employs more than 2,800 people as its largest production site with a total area of 1,000,000 square meters.

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk is a healthcare company boasting more than 90 years of innovation in diabetes care. It employs some 40,700 employees in 75 countries and regions, and markets its products in more than 180 countries and regions. (1 U.S. dollar = 6.70 Danish kroner) Enditem