American demand for weight-loss drugs is supercharging Denmark’s economy and transforming a small Danish community into an unlikely boomtown.

Look back only two years ago and the name of Danish firm Novo Nordisk would hardly ring a bell. But now, soaring sales of two blockbuster drugs, the anti-obesity and diabetes treatments Wegovy and Ozempic, have turned this pharmaceutical giant into one of Europe's most valuable companies.

The drugmaker revealed in early February 2025 that its pre-tax profits jumped 22% to $17.8bn (DKK127.2bn/£14.2bn).

It has also given Denmark's economy a huge boost, making it one of the region's fastest-growing. From new job creation to lower mortgage rates, the ripple effects of skyrocketing drug demand have been felt across the country, and not least in the tiny port town of Kalundborg, a community of fewer than 17,000 residents, where one of the biggest investments in Danish history is now underway.

Stepping off the train on the outskirts of Kalundborg, an hour northwest of Copenhagen, passengers are greeted by birdsong and construction noise. It's an unlikely spot for what is now the epicentre of a global weight-loss revolution.

Across a railway bridge stand the grey, boxy buildings of Novo Nordisk's sprawling industrial site. This is where half of the world's insulin is made. It's also where semaglutide is produced, the game-changing active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy.

"We are the centre of where the medicine starts, the core substance," Kalundborg's mayor Martin Damm told me, as we toured the plant's perimeter, a vast site covering 1.6 million sq m, equivalent to the size of 224 football pitches.

"Now you're coming into crane land," announces Damm. I quickly counted about 20 of them towering over new concrete structures and temporary cabins.

An eye watering $8.6bn (DKK60bn) will be spent here over the next few years, which will see 1,250 new jobs added to the plant's 4,400-strong workforce. It's also brought 3,000 construction workers to the area. "We have a rule of thumb, when you have one job inside the industry, that will generate three jobs outside," stated Damm.

Kalundborg's economy has seen ups and downs. Once a shipbuilding centre, it then boomed in the 1960s manufacturing Carmen Curlers, a hair roller that was popular in the US until fashions changed. Now it's seemingly on a roll again.

As we drive by, Damm points out a petrol station. "Every morning the owner needs to roast 30kg (66lbs) of pork to make sandwiches. All these craftsmen like pork sandwiches." There are more boom stories: a local supermarket has seen sales increase five-fold and a fast food store sold 17,500 hot dogs in little over a month to hungry construction workers seeking an easy lunch.

Two-thirds of Denmark's GDP growth came from just four boroughs. All share one thing in common: they're where Novo Nordisk premises are located. Among them Kalundborg saw a staggering 27% growth rate in 2022, according to the most recent data available. "We were number one," says Damm, adding that unemployment in the area, once high a decade ago, is now among the region's lowest.

Novo Nordisk's swelling corporate tax bill has lifted the municipality's finances, which has splashed out on a public swimming area, and plans for a new culture house and library.

© BBC