€400m weight loss tablet factory to be built in Ireland

The maker of the weight-loss drug Wegovy will start manufacturing a tablet form of the product at its factory in the Republic of Ireland.

Novo Nordisk, which is based in Denmark, said it will invest more than €400m (£350m) to upgrade its facility at Athlone, County Westmeath.

Wegovy and similar weight loss drugs are mainly given by injection but tablet forms of the drugs are now being produced.

Oral Wegovy was approved for sale in the United States in January and is expected to be approved on other markets soon.

The Athlone factory will produce tablets for markets outside the US.

Kasper Bødker Mejlvang, Executive Vice President at Novo Nordisk, said the investment was "a historic milestone which marks our continued commitment to Ireland and our highly skilled employees in Athlone".

Construction work has already started and is expected to continue until 2028.

Ireland is already a major manufacturing base for Novo Nordisk's main rival in weight loss drugs.

Eli Lilly makes the active pharmaceutical ingredients for its Mounjaro and Zepbound drugs at its factory in Kinsale, County Cork.

Those ingredients are then air freighted to the US, making Eli Lilly one of Ireland's largest exporters.

Novo Nordisk has recently cut jobs amid warnings of increasing competition from Eli Lilly and the impact of patents expiring.

Both Wegovy and Monujaro work as appetite suppressants by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 which makes people feel fuller.

Mounjaro also affects metabolism and helps regulate energy balance.

Patients generally start on a low level dose which is gradually increased until they reach a maintenance dose.

In the UK they are always prescribed alongside healthier eating and exercise programmes.