Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 29 April 2025 – Novo Nordisk, a leading global healthcare company, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Lifera, a biopharmaceutical company owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, to pursue the localization of the manufacturing of semaglutide GLP-1 treatments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The MOU marks a significant step in strengthening the Kingdom’s healthcare sector and pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities. The signing ceremony was attended by H.E. Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih and several officials, along with representatives from Novo Nordisk and Lifera.
Semaglutide GLP-1 treatments are the global market-leading therapeutics for weight management. Novo Nordisk plans to launch Wegovy®️ in the Saudi Arabian market in 2025 to treat patients living with obesity in both the public and private sectors.
“This Memorandum of Understanding is testament to our long-term commitment to people living with chronic disease in Saudi Arabia,” said Mike Doustdar, Executive Vice President, International Operations at Novo Nordisk. “By localizing production, we are enhancing access to our life-changing medicines, enabling us to serve more people living with serious chronic diseases, while supporting local industry and skills.”
Local production of semaglutide GLP-1 treatments in Saudi Arabia will improve access to healthcare for people living with chronic disease, enhance national pharmaceutical self-sufficiency, and support local skills and innovation.
“With this Memorandum of Understanding, Novo Nordisk wants to help improve the availability of critical therapies in Saudi Arabia, accelerate time-to-treatment for people living with chronic disease, and ultimately reduce long-term healthcare costs associated with serious chronic diseases,” said Melvin D’Souza, General Manager at Novo Nordisk Saudi Arabia. “We reached nearly 1 million people with diabetes and obesity last year in Saudi Arabia and our vision is to triple that number by 2030. With a strong pipeline of new treatments and innovations on the horizon, we’re focused on growing and contributing to the society in a sustainable way. Our strategy at Novo Nordisk in Saudi Arabia focuses on innovation, increasing speed and access to treatments, and continuing our close collaboration with stakeholders to ensure better outcomes for people living with chronic disease.”
This MOU serves as a foundation for both parties to advance the establishment of local production capabilities for semaglutide GLP-1 treatments in Saudi Arabia.
About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a leading global healthcare company founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark. Our purpose is to drive change to defeat serious chronic diseases built upon our heritage in diabetes. We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines, and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease. Novo Nordisk employs about 76,300 people in 80 countries and markets its products in around 170 countries. For more information, visit novonordisk.com, Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn and YouTube.
About Lifera
Lifera is a biopharmaceutical company launched in 2023 dedicated to advancing Saudi Arabia’s biopharmaceutical sector and building national health resilience. Through its Lifera Biologics business unit, local manufacturing capacity is being developed for insulin and other peptides, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and other biologics. Through its subsidiary, Lifera Omics, Lifera is investing in genetic testing and precision medicine to improve patient access to high quality genetic testing and to catalyse biotechnology R&D in Saudi Arabia. Lifera aims to localise the manufacturing of essential medicines and other advanced therapeutics, and to enable the achievement of goals in the National Biotechnology Strategy. Lifera will do this through partnerships and investments with leading international and Saudi companies to transfer global expertise and technology to Saudi Arabia. Lifera’s differentiated vision and mission, make it an ideal partner to build the biopharmaceutical sector in Saudi Arabia. For more information visit www.lifera.com.sa.
