This week, 60 Minutes traveled to Denmark to report on Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company behind the popular drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.
Novo Nordisk’s success with the drug led to huge profits: its market capitalization is now greater than the entire GDP of Denmark.
Novo Nordisk’s outsize profit has also led to an increase in tax revenue. Last year, the company paid $2.3 billion in income tax to the Danish government.
“It’s hard to overstate the influence of Novo Nordisk and Ozempic and Wegovy on the Danish economy,” correspondent Jon Wertheim told 60 Minutes Overtime.
Wertheim interviewed Mads Krogsgaard, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The foundation, which controls 77% of the company’s voting shares, is responsible for distributing profits for research in medicine and science.
Wertheim asked Krogsgaard how the company is dealing with meteoric success and representing Denmark on the world stage.
“In some ways … we interact more than we have done before with politicians (and) ministers,” he said.
“I hope there will (be) more companies like Novo Nordisk. But now, Novo Nordisk companies are driving a lot, you can see, the wealth of the country.”
In Denmark, Novo Nordisk has created thousands of new jobs, “which is a lot in a small country,” Krogsgaard said.
“The risk here is one sector,” Wertheim told 60 Minutes Overtime. “There is a danger that one sector is too dependent for growth.”
Nokia
In 1999, producer Michael Gavshon and correspondent Bob Simon reported from another Nordic country, Finland.
Nokia, a Finnish mobile phone company, dominates the global market in mobile phones.
At the time, 65% of Finns used cell phones, compared to only 25% of the population in the United States.
Simon asked CEO Jorna Ollila if he felt Nokia was the vanguard of the revolution.
“I’ve seen the first part. There’s more to come,” said Ollila.
At the height of its success, Nokia’s share of Finland’s GDP was 4%. It remained the undisputed leader of the mobile phone industry until the late 2000s.
Then, in 2007, Apple changed everything when it launched the iPhone, and the smartphone era began.
With the demand almost too fast, rivals like Google and Apple started elbowing Nokia out of the market with innovative smartphones.
In 2008, consumer demand for Apple’s iPhone was overwhelming. The first weekend the second iPhone was released, Apple sold 1 million units.
The collapse of Nokia, coupled with the European debt crisis, had a major impact on the Finnish economy.
About 25,000 Finns left the company from 2008 to 2017. In 2012, Nokia’s contribution to Finland’s GDP was negative.
Risks for Novo Nordisk and Denmark
Today, Novo Nordisk accounts for almost half of the country’s GDP growth, according to an analysis by Danske Bank Denmark.
The Danish economy can face risks because it depends on one sector, and one company.
“It’s not quite as perilous as it might be elsewhere. But there are dangers that come with having one sector become dependent for more growth,” Wertheim said.
Wertheim spoke with Hanne Sindbaek, an independent Danish journalist who has written two books on the history of Novo Nordisk and its founders.
Wertheim asked what the impact would be on Novo Nordisk if drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic continued to become cheaper, and insurance companies in the United States began to subsidize millions of Americans.
“Well, that would make it very, very rich,” he told Wertheim. “There may be a competitor coming out of the woodwork here.”
“But he was the first, and the biggest … he had a great leadership opportunity in the field.”
However, there are ethical concerns about the drug’s price, and some people who could benefit from it are now unable to afford it.
“Novo Nordisk (will) have this concern. And there will be a discussion at Novo Nordisk about this,” he told Wertheim.
The video above was produced by Will Croxton and Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by Sarah Shafer Prediger.
