Novo Nordisk will invest DKK 500 million (￡57.96m) to expand facilities at an existing production site in M?l?v, Denmark.

Currently, this facility manufactures products for Novo’s oral diabetes treatment semaglutide – also known as Rybelsus.

The expansion at the facility will ensure capacity for future production of these products, Novo Nordisk said in a statement.

“This investment in our production facilities in M?l?v is an important step in building and ensuring future capacity for production of Rybelsus (oral semaglutide),” said Henrik Steen Jensen, corporate vice president for Novo Nordisk oral semaglutide production.

"M?l?v is currently our cornerstone in the production of oral semaglutide, and it is critical that we invest timely in capacity expansion to meet the future demands,” he added.

The company is expecting the expansion project to be competed in 2022.

Rybelsus was approved in the EU in 2020 for the treatment of type II diabetes as an adjunct to diet and exercise for adults whose condition remains uncontrolled.

The approval is based on data from 10 PIONEER clinical trials, in which the drug showed ‘statistically significant reductions in HbA1c vs sitagliptin, empagliflozin and liraglutide and with up to 4.3kg weight reduction’.

The most common adverse event observed during the trials was mild to moderate nausea, which lessened over time.