Novo Nordisk parent to purchase Catalent to expand Wegovy supply

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk‘s parent company, Novo Holdings, on Monday said it is going to acquire drug manufacturer Catalent in a $16.5 billion deal that would help boost the availability of the highly popular weight reduction injection Wegovy and diabetes shot Ozempic. 

Catalent is the most important supplier of fill-finish work, which involves filling and packaging syringes and injection pens, for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. 

Novo Nordisk will then buy three of Catalent’s manufacturing sites from Novo Holdings for $11 billion. Novo Holdings owns almost 77% of the voting shares in Novo Nordisk.

Novo Nordisk and Novo Holdings said they expect the acquisition of the plants and the broader deal to purchase Catalent to shut at the top of 2024. 

Novo Nordisk added that it expects its purchase to regularly help increase its filling capability starting in 2026. The corporate already contracts the three plants, that are positioned in Italy, Belgium and Bloomington, Indiana. 

Catalent shares closed greater than 9% higher on Monday after the deal announcement. The corporate has a market value of roughly $10 billion. Novo Nordisk’s stock closed around 4% higher, for a market value of about $407 billion.

Shares of Novo Nordisk jumped almost 53% last 12 months as Wegovy and Ozempic soared in popularity — and slipped into shortages — for his or her ability to assist patients lose significant weight over time.

The Catalent deal is the corporate’s latest effort to spice up manufacturing capability for its drugs because it faces competition from Eli Lilly and other emerging competitors in the load loss drug market.

Last 12 months, the corporate announced plans to take a position in latest production facilities in Denmark and France. Novo Nordisk also said last week that it has greater than doubled the variety of Wegovy starter doses it’s shipping to the U.S., which allows more patients to start the treatment.

Under the terms of the deal, Novo Holdings will buy Catalent for $63.50 a share in money, a premium of 16.5% to Catalent’s closing price on Friday.

The deal to purchase Catalent has the backing of activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which has a stake within the U.S. company, based on Novo Holdings. 

Notably, a few of Catalent’s factories that manufacture Wegovy have been linked to regulatory problems up to now. Reuters reported in July that Catalent’s factory in Brussels that fills Wegovy pens had repeatedly breached U.S. sterile-safety rules in recent times and that staff had didn’t perform required quality checks.

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