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1 Introduction
In this paper I will discuss the US operations of the Danish healthcare company Novo Nord-isk A/S. Novo Nordisk is a market leader in insulin sales, and very different from all its com-petitors in the sense that the company’s primary focus is diabetes care - the company sees experience in proteins as its core skill and keeps a narrow focus in this single therapeutic area. Novo is already a market leader in the US, having replaced American competitor Eli Lilly. The US is an interesting market, since it has a huge population where a majority of people are ei-ther overweight or obese. At the same time, the US healthcare system is very different from the European one in that it doesn’t have a wide-ranging public health insurance.
I will first discuss the characteristics of the pharmaceutical industry in general and the insulin market in some more detail. I will then explain the specific characteristics of the US market, and outline what challenges and opportunities Novo Nordisk might have in the future. Al-though the company is a market leader in the US, the market might undergo some changes (especially when it comes to private health insurance) that require Novo’s accommodation. With the spread of type 2 diabetes, Novo might also want to explore alternative ways of tap-ping into the growing number of potential customers.
2 Domestic market and industry analysis
2.1 Development trends in the pharmaceutical industry
Novo Nordisk is an exception in the pharmaceutical industry in that its focus is diabetes care. Many other companies market not only drugs in several different therapeutic areas, but also vitamins an ...