When we observe the previous winners of the Nobel Prize, it becomes immediately apparent that open collaboration, and a drive to improve humanity’s fight against disease are important factors of conducting impactful science. Sharing her views on the future of CRISPR and gene editing, Dr. Jennifer Doudna states: “The research that I’ll talk about today wouldn’t have happened … if I had been working anywhere else. And that’s because we have a really collaborative environment on our campus”. Her collaborative approach to science is further reflected in her joint work with Dr. Emanuelle Charpentier for the engineering of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system which won them the Nobel Prize in 2020. On the other hand, when thinking about establishing a successful company, founders and entrepreneurs alike typically think of ways to beat the surrounding competition. Unlike the language used to describe scientific discoveries, war-like terms are often incorporated in business-speak such as “disruptive”, “competitive”, and “strategic”. Contrasting perceptions of what drives successful science versus a profitable business might lead one to believe that a scientific mindset is incompatible with strong business acumen. In some cases, this may be true. However, the founding of Novo Nordisk – currently the world’s largest biotechnology company – shows us that competition and collaboration can paradoxically work together to foster business growth and propel the healthcare of humanity forward.
Following his Nobel Prize win for discovering the mechanism of blood perfusion through capillaries, the Danish scientist Dr. August Krogh went to give lectures at universities on the American east coast. Persuaded by his wife who had been struggling with type 2 diabetes, he made a special stop at the University of Toronto to meet Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and John Macleod – scientists who had successfully isolated insulin that could be used to treat diabetes. Motivated by his wife’s condition, Krogh managed to receive their permission to manufacture active insulin in Europe. Then in 1923, he partnered with a diabetes expert, Dr. H.C Hagedorn, and a pharmacist, August Kongsted to establish the Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium in Copenhagen. The goal of this company was humanitarian in nature: firstly, to produce insulin at scale to help patients with diabetes, and secondly to advance science through the creation of grants funded by the company’s profits.
As Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium expanded, internal conflicts began to occur. In 1924, Hagedorn fired a valued chemist at the company, Thorvald Pedersen, due to a disagreement, which also led to the resignation of his brother, Harald Pedersen. The Pederson brothers wanted to continue the Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium’s mission of making insulin and decided to compete with the incumbent. August Krogh famously told Harald “you’ll never manage [to make insulin]” – words that would inevitably come to back to bite him.
The Pedersen brothers established their new biotech company, Novo Laboratory, merely a few kilometers away from the Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium. Whereas Krogh, Hagedorn, and Kongsted used their status as social and intellectual elites to grow their operation, the Pedersen brothers made up for their less impressive professional network and credentials by boasting a strong entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen, and perseverance. The brothers’ grit and dedication to the financial survival of the Novo Laboratory proved to be an effective answer to its well-connected and methodical rival. Novo Laboratory eventually transitioned to becoming the Novo Foundation, which became lucrative and in turn awarded grants to life sciences research. The competition between Novo Foundation and Nordisk Insulinlaboratorium in the 1980s was so fierce that they were not only competing within the same market, but also for the same scientific personnel and researchers within Denmark.
An event in 1989 proved that business sense and scientific collaboration can work together to create a product that is larger than the sum of their parts: the merger of the Novo and Nordisk Laboratories into the widely-known company Novo Nordisk. Fueled by the desire to create a global business leader in the pharmaceutical space, and the wider humanitarian goal to create a unified foundation that would provide grants for life sciences research, the merger was one of the largest in Denmark’s history. The financials have indeed worked out in both companies’ favor. In 2023, Novo Nordisk accounted for an impressive 8.3 percent of Denmark’s entire gross domestic product, and in 2024, their market cap was an immense 445 billion USD. In fact, the contribution of Novo Nordisk to the Danish economy is so large that the entire country is impacted during recessions in the biotechnology sector. Nevertheless, the Novo Nordisk foundation has also had massive philanthropic success since the merger. The 1.4 billion USD awarded by the foundation in 2024 helped launch Denmark’s first supercomputer as well as fund academic research on stem cell and regenerative therapies. It is undeniable that the company’s humanitarian investment in life science research will lead to an improvement in human health.
Collaboration epitomizes some of the best parts of the human spirit – a desire to gather our collective resources and knowledge to create a product that is greater than that which we would have made individually. However, despite its sometimes-negative connotation, competition also has a vital role in humanity’s greatness. It can instruct us to put our best foot forward and strive for perfection when faced against competitors. Therefore, if individuals manage to synthesize and bridge the gap between competitor and collaborator, humanity ultimately benefits, as shown by the story of Novo Nordisk.
References
- https://ls.berkeley.edu/news/berkeley-talks-nobel-laureate-jennifer-doudna-crispr-and-future-gene-editing
- https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/who-we-are/our-history/
- https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/122215/worlds-top-10-biotechnology-companies-jnj-rogvx.asp
- https://novonordiskfonden.dk/en/news/denmarks-first-ai-supercomputer-is-now-operational/
- https://meetings.imf.org/en/-/media/files/publications/cr/2024/english/1dnkea2024002-print-pdf.pdf?utm
Boyan Tsankov
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