Novo is racing to build out factories and production lines as competition intensifies in a booming weight-loss market. For French president Emmanuel Macron, spurring a reversal of the country’s industrial decline has been a key economic goal. 

The factory makes pre-filled injector pens, which patients need to use Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as insulin. The investment will more than double the factory and create more than 500 new jobs, Novo said. It comes on top a €130m investment into Chartres. 

The frenzy around the drugs, endorsed by celebrities and entrepreneurs including Elon Musk, turned Novo into Europe’s most valuable company. Earlier this month, the drugmaker unveiled a plan to invest more than €5bn to build a 170,000 square-metre manufacturing facility in Denmark.

Novo has faced shortages of Ozempic and Wegovy, with some diabetes patients struggling to stay on treatment. Both medicines contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide, which mimics the action of a gut hormone and makes people feel full.

Wegovy has been shown to help users shed about 15% of their body weight on average, and recent studies also demonstrated heart benefits. Novo has so far only introduced the drug in a handful of countries. Access in France was first restricted to morbidly obese patients with another risk factor such as heart disease or sleep apnea, and the treatment hasn’t officially launched there. 

Countries where Wegovy has been launched so far include the US, Denmark, Norway, Germany, and Britain. It aims to launch in Japan early next year. 

Bloomberg and Reuters