Telling Interview with Novo Nordisk A/S' Chief Financial Officer Jesper Brandgaard for CNBC/Dow Jones. In this interview, Mr. Brandgaard explicitly states the company's intention to eliminate human insulin and replace this with patent-protected proprietary insulin-like molecules (also known as insulin analogues or insulin receptor ligands).

1. Novo Nordisk - CFO Interview
CEO Wire. Waltham: Jan 27, 2006.
Full Text (1066 words)
2006 CNBC/Dow Jones Business Video
DANIEL MANN, CNBC ANCHOR: Denmark's Novo Nordisk, the world's biggest maker of insulin, has
posted a 16 percent rise in 2005 operating profit, which is just ahead of forecasts. Despite the positive
numbers, it shares are under a bit of pressure as it trims its 2006 profit forecast due to higher
spending on sales and marketing strategies. I'm delighted to tell you joining us now is Jesper
Brandgaard, he's the chief financial officer of Novo Nordisk.
Good to see you again, Mr. Brandgaard. Thank you very much, indeed, for joining us on
WORLDWIDE EXCHANGE. Now we understand higher spending and marketing sales, but what can
you tell our viewers about last stage clinical development projects, what does that mean?
JESPER BRANDGAARD, CFO, NOVO NORDISK: Well, the key one that’s going into Phase III
clinical development this year is Liraglutide, which is our GLP-1 compound, which is an insulin-like
compound which is ideal for type 2 patients, starting with therapy with injectibles. Here we have a
very interesting compound which can offer weight-lowering and lack of hypoglycemic events, which is
a classical problem for type 2 patients.
MANN: Put -- your pipeline at the moment, Mr. Brandgaard, how pleased are you with it?
BRANDGAARD: Well, we are very pleased on the diabetes front. We are now the first company on
the market with a full portfolio of insulin analogues. And that comes out of our labs here in Denmark.
And in addition we have new Liraglutide. So on the diabetes front, things look pretty exciting, and we
are also seeing that the diabetes are growing very rapidly. From our biopharmaceutical franchise, it’s
the expansion of NovoSeven that’s really important. We are trying to get into ICH, intracerebral
hemorrhage, that’s bleeding in the brain. And we are progressing very fast with a Phase III trial that
hopefully we should be able to end by the end of this year and then later file for approval, both in the
U.S. and in Europe. So that looks very exciting.
On the trauma front, using NovoSeven for trauma looks a bit more challenging for us. We are
embarking on a global trial, but it will require 1,500 patients. So it’s probably going to take us some
five years. So that’s a little bit challenging. But that’s the regulatory requirement.
MANN: Sure. Let’s just go back to NovoSeven. How much more data do you think you require on that
drug?
BRANDGAARD: Well, on the ICH, it’s clear that we need around 675 patients. We are roughly
halfway there. And we have said that we expect to complete this trial before the end of this year.
That’s going to be crucial for getting approved, both in Europe and U.S. On trauma, it’s a significant
data number. You need 1,500 patients. It’s a substantial number of patients. And these are tricky to
get in. We are typically talking about traffic accidents, gunshot wounds. And it’s hard to get patients to
look alike and be able to get their relatives to accept inclusion in trials. So this is a very challenging
area in getting an expansion of the education for NovoSeven.
MICHELLE CARUSO-CABRERA, CNBC ANCHOR: Mr. Brandgaard, Michelle here in the U.S.,
where the diabetes market is big and expected to get bigger, because it’s no secret that we eat too
much here. And in fact, The New York Times recently ran a series calling it and epidemic in the
United States. We know that this is an area where the U.S. pharmaceutical companies are very

2. interested in. Pfizer (PFE) just did this deal buying out Sanofi-Aventis’ (SNY) interest in Exubera, this
inhaled insulin. Any chance that because of your focus on diabetes that you end up doing some deals
here with a U.S. company?
BRANDGAARD: Well, Novo Nordisk is a very special company. We are owned by a foundation. So
it’s not very likely that we will change ownership. Of course, we will be focusing on what opportunities
there will be in the diabetes care arena. But we are very focused on the injectible market. We are
growing rapidly. It’s the part of the diabetes market that’s actually growing the fastest. We are
currently seeing growth rates in excess of 10 percent, as you said, to people getting obese and
basically more and more people with diabetes. So we will be pursuing this -- that niche of the market
that needs dealing with the blood sugar levels. And we believe that we have excellent opportunities
with a full portfolio of analogue. And as I said, we are really the only company who has that
opportunity. And we will be launching in the U.S. -- when we get into this year, we will be launching
our long-acting analogue also in the U.S.
CHRISTINE TAN, CNBC ANCHOR: Jesper, hi, this is Christine in Asia. What sort of competition are
you seeing from generic drugmakers?
BRANDGAARD: It’s a very, very good question. It’s actually a limited impact we have. Where there
could generic competition is in human insulin. But there you have got to bear in mind that in Europe,
where there could come some generic competition, say two-three years from now, we have about 85
percent of our human insulin sold in Europe, which are being sold in devices. So it’s not going to be a
very likely area for a high degree of competition. And then in addition we are about to convert the
market from human insulin onto insulin analogue.
If we look at it globally, we have more than 40 percent of the market now converting to analogue. So
we are actually in a different situation from most other companies. We are taking our portfolio from
being generic product, human insulin, onto a patent-protected insulin analogue. So we are actually
getting our portfolio on- patent, not off-patent.
MANN: Good to have you on the network again, Mr. Brandgaard, thank you very much, indeed, for
joining us on WORLDWIDE EXCHANGE. Jesper Brandgaard, the chief financial officer of Novo
Nordisk
END
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Indexing (document details)
Companies: CNBC (NAICS: 513210, Sic:4841, Duns:19-865-3990), Novo Nordisk
Publication title: CEO Wire. Waltham: Jan 27, 2006.
Source type: Wire Feed
Text Word 1066
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