A new play chronicling the meteoric ascent of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is set to debut this Saturday at a theatre near Copenhagen. Entitled “The Golden Calf”, the play delves into the story of August and Marie Krogh, the Danish couple who established Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium in 1923, a precursor to Novo Nordisk. Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company specialising in diabetes care and obesity treatment, currently valued at approximately $200 billion.
The production explores the company’s evolution into a global powerhouse, particularly focusing on its GLP-1 drugs, including Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes treatment. The play’s director, Nicolei Faber, told Reuters that the production was created independently, without Novo Nordisk’s involvement. The company became Europe’s most valuable in June 2024.
Recent challenges, including increased competition and slower growth, have prompted Novo Nordisk to announce plans for 9,000 job cuts globally, with 5,000 of those in Denmark. An actor in the play, Sebastian Henry Aagaard-Williams, noted the widespread connection to the company, stating, “Everybody has some relationship to Novo Nordisk and everybody’s pension has stocks in Novo.”
The play also raises questions about the balance between profit and patient care, specifically concerning the cost and ongoing nature of GLP-1 treatments. Novo Nordisk maintains that its medications offer substantial health benefits that could lower long-term healthcare expenses and has justified payments to U.S. medical experts as essential for research, education, and increasing awareness of obesity. The company has declined to comment on the play itself.
