Ozempic Maker Novo Nordisk Suffers Massive Fire in Denmark

23/05/2024

Novo Nordisk branding.

(Bloomberg) -- Novo Nordisk A/S, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, lost an office building at its Danish headquarters complex due to a massive fire, in the second blaze to hit the drugmaker in less than a week.

The fire is now under control, though the building is “not able to be saved,” a Novo spokesperson said by email on Wednesday. The location isn’t used for production and the main headquarters building was not affected, Novo said.

Read: Ozempic Maker Novo Nordisk Has Denmark’s Economy Hooked

Its weight-loss and diabetes treatments have transformed Novo into Europe’s most valuable company, and the drugmaker is investing heavily to expand in Denmark and abroad. This week’s fire follows a May 16 blaze on the roof of a building under construction at Novo’s manufacturing hub in Kalundborg, where the company is spending more than $8 billion to boost production.

Wednesday’s fire broke out outside a building at the Bagsvaerd complex in the morning hours, then spread to an adjacent office building. Some 25 firefighters are still carrying out extinguishing work, which is estimated to last through midnight, Rasmus Storgaard, chief of the local fire service, said by phone.

A mobile crane has now arrived to help clear equipment and the partly collapsed roof to allow service officers access to pockets of fire around the structure, which Storgaard said was used for cooling equipment, offices and meeting rooms, and a laboratory. People in surrounding buildings were evacuated earlier in the day, he said.

Novo declined to comment on the function of the building, but said it’s one of several offices in Bagsvaerd. “All activity in the impacted area is expected to be back to normal tomorrow,” Novo said. The smoke from the fire isn’t toxic, and there are no injuries, it said.

The cause of Wednesday’s fire has not yet been established, and it could be several days or weeks before it is determined, local police said in a post on X. For now, there are no indications that it was caused by a criminal act, it said. Earlier it said the fire was affecting visibility on a nearby motorway.

The risk of the building’s collapse slowed down extinguishing work, Martin Kjaersgaard, the local fire service chief of operations, said by phone earlier in the day, calling the blaze a “massive fire.”

Shares of Novo fell as much as 2.7% before paring back. The stock is up 32% year-to-date.

Broadcaster TV2 showed photos and video clips of fire trucks arriving at the site in Bagsvaerd earlier on Wednesday, and fighters using drones to help them as they try to extinguish the fire. The images displayed intensifying clouds of smoke, though no flames were visible.

--With assistance from Thomas Hall.

(Updates with comment from fire service from fourth paragraph)

OTHER NEWS