Novo Nordisk hides and heads for a world tariff war that could threaten the plans of Wegovy’s manufacturer to develop in the United States
Karsten Munk Knudsen, financial director of Novo Nordisk, said Fortune The company is well placed to manage the geopolitical upheavals that rocked global affairs in March and April.
The dust temporarily settled on the World Trade War of Donald Trump in the middle of a 90 -day break in reprisals against several countries, friends and enemies. These could be rekindled if the business talks in the acting failure, while Trump did not hide his frustration in the face of pharmaceutical imports.
Natal Denmark of Novo Nordisk is also locked in a diplomatic battle stretched with the United States on the status of the territory of Greenland, which could still have consequences on trade between countries.
Knudsen would not be based on hypothetical tasks threatened by Trump in April, when he promised “major prices” which would “come” very quickly “to pharmaceutical imports.
“Our starting point is really to make sure that we get our drugs to the world’s appropriate patients,” Knudsen said.
A second priority, however, is to build the American infrastructure of Novo Nordisk. The company already has 10,000 employees in the United States, while Knudsen stressed that it had invested $ 24 billion in the United States in the last decade.
“We export more from the United States than we import,” the CEO of Novo Nordisk said on Wednesday, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen
The group builds a factory of $ 4.1 billion in North Carolina, where it will produce its drug injectable weight from Wegovy. Jørgensen said that a first world oral GLP-1 Subject to approval At the FDA in early May, would also be produced in the United States
Current directives of the company, which have already been reduced in the midst of competition from copy -made drugs, do not reflect a trademark business environment. The drug manufacturer says the advice could be negatively affected by new prices,
“It is not as if we were completely isolated and without exposure, but I think we have a reasonable cover for many scenarios,” said Knudsen Fortune.
Indeed, the coverage of foreign currencies was one of the avenues that Novo Nordisk took to devote himself to geopolitical disturbance.
Novo Nordisk gives in between 50% and 70% of its foreign currency reserves. With American sales representing more than half of the company’s first line, a lot of coverage attention is paid to the US dollar. The dollar has dropped 8% compared to the Danish Krone since the beginning of 2025, while investors have lost confidence in the security currency in the middle of the Trump tariff assault.
The company plans to gain a 0.9 billion DKK ($ 136 million) in 2025, largely linked to its hedges on the US dollar. In February, before the swirling rate, the company expected to make a loss of 9 billion DKK ($ 1.4 billion) on its coverage strategy.
“If the dollar is weakening, then we have corresponding coverage gains, then we can have coverage losses, let’s say, emerging market currencies. It is therefore not a 100% perfect coverage, but it is good coverage.”
Knudsen said Novo Nordisk planned to stick to his coverage strategy “with some minor adjustments”.
A Catalyst for Trump’s pricing threats was the merger of European pharmaceutical giants against the European Union.
Novo Nordisk, with its expansion in the United States, is one of the many threatening This expansion if EU political decision -makers do not undergo a redesign of regulatory and intellectual property.
“If European politicians continue to push the pharmaceuchière and make it less and less attractive, then of course, like any other industry, we believe that it would be a loss for the European Union,” said Knudsen.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
