• Danish pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk, is expanding its operations in India due to rising demand for its weight-loss drug, Wegovy.
• The company plans to double its global process leaders in India and increase its overall headcount by 16% to 5,000 next year.
• Novo Nordisk is also partnering with local AI start-ups to leverage artificial intelligence for tasks such as summarizing documents and extracting insights.
• The company's expansion in India reflects the growing importance of the country in the global pharmaceutical landscape, with its cost-effective operations and burgeoning AI start-up ecosystem.

Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company, is making significant strides in India, the world's most populous nation. The company, known for its Wegovy weight-loss drug, is expanding its operations in India by strengthening its senior leadership and partnering with local AI start-ups. This information was shared by a top executive in an interview with Reuters.

The company's operations in Bengaluru, which were launched 17 years ago, are set to expand. The Bengaluru centre plays a crucial role in managing vast amounts of data related to the safety and efficacy of Novo Nordisk's medicines. This data includes information from clinical trials and reports of potential side effects.

Novo Nordisk has seen a surge in its global profile due to the increasing demand for Wegovy and the related diabetes drug Ozempic. The company plans to double the number of global process leaders based in India over the next three to four years.

AI Partnerships and Expansion Plans

Additionally, it aims to increase its overall headcount by 16% to 5,000 next year, according to John Dawber, Novo's managing director for global business services. The company has also formed partnerships with 10 startups in India to leverage artificial intelligence for various tasks.

These tasks include summarizing documents, extracting insights, and checking for editing errors. Dawber added that some of these AI tools are being used across its global operations.

The company's medical writers are using AI to reduce the time needed for quality checks on documents. Some of these documents are intended for submission to drug regulators in various required formats in countries ranging from the U.S. to Japan. It goes from 40 hours per document to about 40 minutes per document, Dawber said in an interview in Bengaluru.

Dawber expects the India centre to emerge as an almost perfect mirror image of the company's Bagsvaerd, Denmark headquarters in three years in terms of handling data central to research and development.

Pharmaceutical Giants Betting Big on India

It's still and always will be a shared activity. But certainly, the pendulum is swinging towards more responsibility for the today and the future products here in Bengaluru, he said. Novo Nordisk is not the only major pharmaceutical company betting big on India.

Earlier this year, French drugmaker Sanofi revealed plans to invest $437 million in its India centre. Bristol Myers Squibb confirmed it expected its Hyderabad, India facility to become its largest unit outside the U.S. by 2025 as it looks to enhance drug development through the use of AI and digital technologies.

Half of Novo's global safety assessment work, which tracks reports of drug side effects and shares them with health regulators across the globe, is handled by its India operation. Dawber's team in India also contributes to producing safety update reports, brochure updates through the drug development process, risk management plans and other publications.

Novo did not comment on the amount it has invested in expanding the India centre or its AI partnerships, but confirmed it was open to collaborating with more such startups in India. Wegovy and rival drugs from Eli Lilly sold under the brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound belong to a class of therapies known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that help control blood sugar and slow digestion, making people feel full longer.