Novo Nordisk buys manufacturing sites

Novo Nordisk closed on three former Catalent manufacturing sites on December 18, 2024, adding capacity in Italy, Belgium and Indiana. (novonordisk.com) (catalent.com) The transaction followed Novo Holdings’ completion of its $16.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Catalent, announced by Catalent and Novo Holdings the same day. Catalent shareholders received $63.50 per share in cash, and the stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. (catalent.com) (novoholdings.dk) The three sites Novo Nordisk took over are fill-finish plants in Anagni, Italy; Bloomington, Indiana; and Brussels, Belgium. Fill-finish is the step where a drug is put into pens, vials or syringes for shipment to patients. (catalent.com) (biopharminternational.com) Novo Nordisk said the sites employ more than 3,000 people and will expand manufacturing “at scale and speed” while fitting into its existing supply network. Chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said the added capacity would help the company reach more people with chronic diseases. (biopharminternational.com) (novonordisk.com) Two weeks earlier, on December 4, 2024, Novavax said it had agreed to sell its Bohumil, Czech Republic manufacturing facility to Novo Nordisk for $200 million. The deal covers a 150,000-square-foot recombinant protein plant, support buildings, the workforce and related infrastructure. (novavax.com) Novavax said it would receive $190 million in 2024 and another $10 million in 2025, and that the sale should cut its annual operating costs by about $80 million. Novavax chief executive John Jacobs said the company was slimming down to focus on its pipeline and Matrix-M adjuvant platform. (novavax.com) The Czech plant is different from the Catalent assets: it makes recombinant proteins, a way of producing engineered proteins in living cells for vaccines and biologic medicines. The Catalent sites specialize in the final packaging step closer to the patient. (novavax.com) (biopharminternational.com) The buying spree sits alongside a broader manufacturing buildout in Kalundborg, Denmark, where Novo Nordisk has been expanding production tied to obesity and diabetes medicines. Novo’s 2024 annual report said active construction there is part of more than 80 billion Danish kroner in new active pharmaceutical ingredient facilities. (novonordisk.com) In June 2024, local and trade reports said Novo Nordisk also began work on a 12,625-square-meter office building in Kalundborg with about 500 workplaces, plus parking for more than 1,300 cars. The project was presented as support space for the larger production expansion already underway. (sn.dk) (tv-kalundborg.dk) Taken together, the Catalent plants, the Bohumil site and the Kalundborg expansion show Novo Nordisk buying time as much as buildings. The company is adding places to make, fill and support drugs faster than greenfield construction alone would allow. (novonordisk.com) (novavax.com)