Denmark’s economic growth accelerated in the third quarter, boosted by strong pharmaceutical exports, a key industry for the small Nordic country home to weight loss drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Denmark’s seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.3% in the third quarter, the largest quarter-on-quarter expansion since the fourth quarter of 2021, a preliminary reading from Statistics Denmark showed Thursday.
The main driver of growth was the pharmaceutical industry, the agency said. Excluding pharma, the economy would have grown by 0.7%.
“The pharmaceutical industry’s growth is very, very much dominated by Novo Nordisk, so no doubt there was a very strong effect on GDP in Q3,” Las Olsen, chief economist at Danske Bank, told CNBC. “It seems that [2025] will be another year where Novo Nordisk is really adding to Danish GDP growth.”
Pharma has long been an important growth driver for the open and export-reliant economy of Denmark.
However, since the meteoric rise of Novo Nordisk over the past three years, Denmark has logged one of the highest growth rates in Europe, helped by the huge success of Novo’s diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
Danish exports grew by 4.1% in the third quarter, Statistics Denmark said, citing the pharmaceutical industry’s contributions. Goods exports increased by 4.7%.
“The progress in goods exports is primarily due to a strong increase in exports of processed goods, and an increase in exports of chemicals and chemical products,” the agency said. “The latter’s progress should be seen in light of the pharmaceutical industry’s production growth and the industry’s falling prices.”
Earlier this week, Novo Nordisk lowered the price of Ozempic and Wegovy to $349 from $499 for the lowest dose for patients paying out of pocket. It comes shortly after Novo and rival Eli Lilly cut a deal with the Trump administration to lower prices for its obesity treatments, amid the president’s push for lower drug prices for Americans.
Novo Nordisk’s outsized influence
With quarterly sales of more than 70 billion Danish kroner (about $11 billion) and a market value of 1.4 trillion Danish kroner, Novo dominates the Danish pharmaceutical sector.
Despite massive profits and wide margins, Novo’s fortunes have started to wane as competition heats up, especially in the key U.S. market, where Eli Lilly quickly grabbed market share of the lucrative GLP-1 market, despite having launched its rival drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, years after Novo.
The dynamics have led to a lagging Novo share price over the past 18 months. The stock is down 49% year-to-date but was 2.4% higher in morning trading on Thursday, outperforming the broader European Stoxx 600 index.
In the third quarter of 2025, Novo posted its first quarter-on-quarter sales decline since early 2024. Year-over-year, sales still grew by 5.1%.
“There is a slight disconnect between what Novo Nordisk is saying and their earnings reports and [the Danish GDP figures],” economist Lars Christensen told CNBC.
This year, Novo has significantly cut its guidance a number of times, citing challenges in the U.S. market. The company has also kicked off a reorganization program that will include laying off more than 10% of its global workforce under new CEO Mike Doustdar.
In terms of Novo price, the situation for Novo looks somber, Christensen said. “But if you see the actual activity they have, it has been very high.”
“In terms of management, in terms of layoffs, in terms of the stock price, and all that creates some noise where it’s like: “Can these numbers be right?'” Christensen said of the strong GDP numbers. “But if you just look at the actual expansion plan, the effect that they are selling their products, and so forth… There is no doubt that Novo is continuing to have a significant positive impact.”