By Maggie Fick<\/p>\n
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which has fallen behind Eli Lilly in the immensely lucrative weight-loss drug market, said on Tuesday it \u200cis partnering with OpenAI to deploy artificial intelligence across its business, from drug discovery \u200cto manufacturing and commercial operations.<\/p>\n
The maker of Wegovy and Ozempic said the partnership would use OpenAI’s technology to analyse complex \u200bdatasets, identify promising drug candidates and improve efficiency in manufacturing, supply chains, distribution and corporate operations.<\/p>\n
Drugmakers are increasingly using AI https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/litigation\/drugmakers-turn-ai-speed-trials-regulatory-submissions-2026-01-26\/ to streamline the more tedious parts of drug development, from finding clinical trial participants and selecting sites to preparing regulatory filings, though industry executives say the technology has not \u200cyet fully delivered on the harder \u2060task of discovering major new molecules.<\/p>\n
Novo is seeking new ways https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/boards-policy-regulation\/novo-nordisk-appoints-mars-ceo-board-observer-2026-03-26\/ to regain ground in an intensifying obesity-drug battle https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/pills-tiktok-weight-loss-apps-consumer-driven-future-glp-1s-2025-12-29\/ with Indianapolis-based Lilly, which this \u2060month won U.S. approval https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/healthcare-pharmaceuticals\/lillys-weight-loss-pill-wins-us-approval-2026-04-01\/ for its weight-loss pill Foundayo after Novo launched https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/boards-policy-regulation\/novo-nordisk-sell-wegovy-pill-us-self-pay-patients-starting-149-per-month-2026-01-05\/ oral Wegovy in January. Analysts expect annual revenue from weight-loss drugs to exceed $100 billion in the next decade.<\/p>\n
Novo did not disclose \u200bfinancial \u200bterms of the agreement. It said pilot programmes would \u200bbegin across research and development, manufacturing and \u200ccommercial operations, with full integration planned by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
Novo said OpenAI will also help train its global workforce, increasing AI literacy and boosting productivity across departments.<\/p>\n
TRAINING, NOT REPLACING<\/p>\n
“The aim here is not replacing our scientists. It’s about supercharging them,” CEO Mike Doustdar said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Doustdar said the partnership was not intended to cut Novo’s current workforce, but to lift productivity and \u200ccurb the pace of future hiring.<\/p>\n
He said AI would \u200bhelp employees work faster and more effectively, reducing the need \u200bto grow headcount as much as in \u200bthe past. Shortly after taking over as CEO last year, Doustdar announced \u200ca restructuring https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/novo-nordisk-slashes-9000-jobs-slim-down-fierce-weight-loss-drug-battle-2025-09-10\/ that cut 9,000 jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAI \u200bis reshaping industries and in \u200blife sciences, it can help people live better, longer lives,\u201d OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. \u201cThis collaboration with Novo Nordisk will help them accelerate scientific discovery, run \u200bsmarter global operations, and redefine \u200cthe future of patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Novo said the partnership included strict data protection, governance and \u200bhuman oversight, and built on its existing AI initiatives with other technology partners and \u200bresearch organisations.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Maggie FickEditing by Bill Berkrot)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Maggie Fick LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) – Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which has fallen behind Eli Lilly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[271],"tags":[4240,276,272],"class_list":["post-64090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novo-nordisk","tag-drug-development","tag-eli-lilly","tag-novo-nordisk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116431100593550809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}