Industry experts believe that Novo Nordisk's Insulin Degludec/Liraglutide is set to become the clinical gold standard among fixed-dose combination therapies for Type-2 diabetes.
Novo Nordisk experienced a major setback in 2013 when the FDA rejected its insulin Tresiba. However, Novo is optimistic to bet upwards of $3.7 billion in the process of developing new oral diabetes therapies.
The company is committed in elevating its R&D project involving about 500 professionals and scientists, planning for gennext efforts for oral insulin and oral GLP-1 drug, which is a new stage where other major players in the industry like Elii Lilly, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline are also involved.
However, there's been intense competition to develop oral SGLT2 drugs, and Novo's experts believe that the rivalry can become much more intense in the next couple of years.
Also, Novo Nordisk has chalked out plans to build a new purification plant at its R&D facility in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, to support its diabetes pipeline.
The company has been investing 1 billion Kronar a year in its R&D for several oral insulin and GLP-1 products making therapies available for patients who prefer oral drugs to avoid injections.
Up to 2022, Novo Nordisk expects to hire 6,000 new employees in Denmark, half of whom will work within R&D.