Novo Nordisk plans €432m investment in Irish GLP-1 plant
Novo Nordisk has said it will invest DKK 3.2 billion (€432 million) in a manufacturing plant in Ireland that will be used to produce its "current and future" GLP-1 agonist-based therapies for diseases like obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The facility selected for the investment programme is located in Monksland, Athlone, which will have a new tabletting facility, boosting its capacity to make oral GLP-1 therapies like Novo Nordisk's recently launched pill formulation of weight-loss therapy Wegovy (semaglutide).
Oral Wegovy is only available in the US at the moment, with initial sales reported to be progressing at an impressive rate. Novo Nordisk has filed the new product for approval in other markets, including the EU and UK, with decisions due in the coming months.
The Danish company said the Monksland investment will support the upgrade and retrofit of the existing facility and allow Ireland to "serve as a critical hub for servicing markets outside the US."
In 2024, Novo Nordisk announced it was building a $4.1 billion facility in Clayton, North Carolina, that is making both the Wegovy pill and the original subcutaneous injection formulation of the drug for the US market.
The Monksland facility employs around 260 workers, and around 500 construction jobs will be created during the upgrade to the 45-acre site, which is expected to be completed by 2028. Novo Nordisk did not say whether any additional permanent jobs will be created as a result of the new investment.
The announcement will be welcome news for Ireland's pharma sector, which is weighted towards manufacturing, at a time when the Trump administration's tariffs are forcing drugmakers to invest in facilities to serve American patients that are based in the US.
In a statement, the chief executive of Irish development agency IDA Ireland, Michael Lohan, said it "demonstrates the strength of Ireland's value proposition as a location for innovation and underlines the importance of regional balance in driving sustainable economic growth."
The Wegovy pill is a key product for Novo Nordisk as its semaglutide-based, injectable GLP-1 therapies, Wegovy and Ozempic, come under intense pressure from Eli Lilly's rival therapies Zepbound and Mounjaro, which are based on dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist tirzepatide.
Lilly also has an oral GLP-1 under regulatory review, orforglipron, but for now, the jury is out over their relative merits in terms of efficacy and safety.
