A new "king of medicine" has emerged, but what attracts more attention is still it.
Who will be the next molecule to change the world?
In the global competition for the top-selling drug in 2024, there was a dramatic turn. The veteran champion, Keytruda, won by a narrow margin of about $200 million. However, what really shocked the industry was the rising star that took second place. In recent years, the popular "Semaglutide" completed in five years what its competitors took a decade to achieve in market expansion. It achieved exponential growth in sales from $3.662 billion in 2020 to $29.296 billion in 2024.
Its parent company, Novo Nordisk, even outperformed its peers and topped the list of European listed companies. Today, let's talk about what Novo Nordisk, the company behind the "miracle weight-loss drug," did right?
From Insulin Pioneer to Dominant Player in the Metabolic Field
As a century-old pharmaceutical company rooted in the field of diabetes treatment, Novo Nordisk's history can be traced back to the groundbreaking breakthrough in the commercial production of insulin in 1923. Over the past hundred years, the key factor in Novo Nordisk's "cross - border" breakthrough from diabetes to obesity is GLP - 1 (Glucagon - like Peptide - 1).
As early as forty years ago, scientists discovered that the GLP - 1 hormone secreted by the human intestine could intelligently lower blood sugar. But at that time, no one believed that this fragile molecule, which could only survive in the body for about two minutes, could be developed into a drug. When the entire industry was pessimistic about the drug development for obesity treatment, Novo Nordisk keenly captured the potential value of GLP - 1 receptor agonists and embarked on a forty - year scientific research marathon.
Through long - term in - depth research, scientists found that in addition to lowering blood sugar, GLP - 1 also has an additional effect of acting on the brain and reducing appetite. This "kill two birds with one stone" pharmacological characteristic led the research team to expand the focus of drug development from simple diabetes treatment to the more market - potential obesity field.
Development from Blood Sugar Lowering to Weight Loss
However, the field of weight - loss drugs is difficult to enter. In the past few decades, many obesity drugs have been approved for marketing, but most of them have been withdrawn from the market due to safety issues. The negative warning of the weight - loss drug "Fen - Phen" still lingers. Pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and the public have almost lost confidence in producing a safe weight - loss drug.
Fortunately, Novo Nordisk demonstrated the steady characteristics of an established pharmaceutical company. Relying on its profound accumulation in the field of metabolic diseases, after years of investment without immediate returns, in 2014, the FDA approved its first GLP - 1 - based weight - loss drug, Liraglutide. Since then, Novo Nordisk has opened a new era in obesity treatment.
After that, as we all know, its R & D team successfully extended the drug's half - life to a week, and the effective weight - loss range of the drug reached a new level. Semaglutide, crowned with the title of "miracle weight - loss drug," helped Novo Nordisk break its own records step by step.
In 2023, the journal "Science" named GLP - 1 - based drugs the "Breakthrough of the Year." In 2024, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, a scientist at Novo Nordisk in charge of GLP - 1 R & D, won the Lasker Award, which is known as a precursor to the Nobel Prize.
Behind the great honors is not only commercial success. It has also triggered a global competition among pharmaceutical companies in the R & D of weight - loss drugs. More importantly, it has promoted the medical community to include obesity in the chronic disease management system and reshaped society's perception of obesity.
A Three - Dimensional Strategy to Deal with Competition
However, it's lonely at the top. Facing the encirclement of generic drugs and the surge in market demand, Novo Nordisk has adopted a multi - pronged strategy. On the one hand, its flagship drugs have been approved for new indications in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. It is expanding in the cardiovascular field and advancing clinical trials for other metabolic - related diseases. At the same time, it is investing heavily to expand production capacity to consolidate its existing position. On the other hand, it is accelerating the R & D of the next - generation drugs, exploring combined action mechanisms based on GLP - 1 to find the next "ace" and strengthen its technological moat. Meanwhile, it is investing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drug design platforms to accelerate the screening of more potential pipelines for chronic diseases. This three - dimensional preparation in terms of production capacity, technology, and pipelines is helping it bet on the next decade.
The Contingency and Necessity of Success
Looking back at Novo Nordisk's success, it is a dramatic interweaving of chance and necessity. There is always a legendary story behind a great product. As the truth revealed in "The Billion - Dollar Molecule": new drug development is a high - stakes gamble. But it is these seemingly failed attempts that lay the foundation for biomedical innovation.
The next molecule to change the world may be lying in the freezer of a laboratory at this moment. It may take 25 years to be known to the world, or it may never get out of the appendix of a research paper. But it is these countless unseen "failures" that form the most solid foundation of the biomedical industry. Only by focusing on a niche field and having the perseverance to stick with it can one create a miracle that transcends the cycle.