The financialization of the pharmaceutical industry: The case of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy

Joan Busfield

Chapter 16 in Handbook of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology Studies, 2026, pp 256-272 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter explores the financialization of one company, the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, chosen because of the notable success of one medicine, Wegovy, a treatment for excess weight, initially developed as a diabetes treatment and when approved in 2017 for that purpose branded as Ozempic. However, when its weight-reducing properties were recognised, the company secured approval for its specific use as a weight-management drug from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021, branding it Wegovy. The aim of this chapter is to explore in detail the phenomenon of financialization by focusing on this single case and considering whether, and the precise ways in which, the considerable success of Wegovy has been associated with an increasing financialization of the Novo Nordisk company. It concludes that the foundation structure of the company, a form which is quite common in Scandinavian countries, has somewhat curtailed the financialization of Novo Nordisk.

Keywords: Financialization; Shareholder value; Pharmaceutical industry; Novo Nordisk; Wegovy; Ozempic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035338443
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