Novo Nordisk’s Integration of OpenAI

Introduction

This year on 14 April, Novo Nordisk announced its partnership with OpenAI.¹ AI will be used from early research to quickly identify new drug candidates, and used to optimise manufacturing processes. The main goal is to shorten the time required to move from research to patient.³ This marks Novo Nordisk’s transition to an AI-first strategy, moving away from isolated AI pilot projects toward enterprise-wide integration.

The Responsibilities of Novo and OpenAI in This Deal

OpenAI will work with Novo to ²:

Analyse massive datasets

• AI will analyse complex, huge datasets to identify new drug candidates faster and more accurately.
• AI is able to speed up the process of finding hidden patterns within genomic, biological, and clinical trial datasets. AI will even be used to simulate experiments that would have needed to be performed in labs. Therefore it will be able to predict the efficacy of potential drugs before a physical sample is created.⁸
• This means that R&D will become faster and cheaper, and drug development will have a higher probability of success.

Upskill all Novo’s employees in AI literacy

• Novo has over 68,000 employees in 80 countries³, so this is a huge investment and shows Novo is taking AI integration very seriously.
• Although the financial details of the partnership was not disclosed, AI training is a costly initiative due to the huge amount of electricity and computing power required.⁴
• However, not training their employees in AI literacy may actually be more expensive, due to a large efficiency gap compared those companies with AI-trained employees. Therefore this is a strategic move, especially for AI integration.

Can OpenAI Help Novo Outrun Lilly’s Rapid Catch-up?

Novo is currently in a race with rival Eli Lilly to gain dominance in the lucrative weight-loss drugs market, with Lilly currently owning more than 50% of the market share. Previously, Novo had fallen behind Lilly, both due to Lilly’s huge success with its more successful and effective drug Zepbound and due to the supply shortages with Novo’s Wegovy and Ozempic.⁵

The shortage was due to unprecedented and exponential demand for the drugs that outpaced Novo’s production capabilities. As the OpenAI deal means that the manufacturing process for new drugs will be much more optimised and efficient, so this will make shortages much less likely to occur in the long term.

AI will be able to analyse complex data, such as public health data, market trends, and social media, to improve and make supply forecasting more accurate.

The Risks and Concerns

There may be a risk that AI integration in early drug research could result in tiny but easily overlooked mistakes that have huge, downstream consequences. Experts emphasise that AI requires rigorous checking.⁶ Novo should use AI alongside traditional methods to enhance the drug development process, and not use it as a replacement. However investors are optimistic that AI integration will improve Novo’s success, as there was a 2.8% increase in Novo’s stock directly after the announcement of the partnership.⁷

AI integration will mean Novo has to make large upfront investments, due to the high performance GPUs, maintenance, and the large amount of energy required. There is a risk that Novo may invest heavily on models that do not outperform traditional methods.

Conclusion

AI integration for Novo introduces high upfront and ongoing costs, but it represents a strategic long-term investment rather than a short-term expense. If implemented effectively and used alongside traditional drug development methods, AI integration may significantly accelerate drug discovery, improve success rates, and optimise manufacturing and supply chains.

References

1. FirstWord Pharma, Novo Nordisk and OpenAI partner to transform how medicines are discovered and delivered (April 24 2026), Available at: https://firstwordpharma.com/story/7180243 [Accessed 27 April 2026]

2. Uta Mommert, Novo Nordisk is going all in on AI. (15 April 2026) Available at: https://european-biotechnology.com/latest-news/novo-nordisk-is-going-all-in-on-ai/ [Accessed 27 April]

3. Ipt online.com, Novo Nordisk and OpenAI partner to transform how medicines are discovered and delivered

Available at: https://www.iptonline.com/articles/novo-nordisk-and-openai-partner-to-transform-how-medicines-are-discovered-and-delivered [Accessed 27 April 2026]

4. Mahmut Kandemir, Why AI uses so much energy — and what we can do about it. (April 8 2026) Available at: https://iee.psu.edu/news/blog/why-ai-uses-so-much-energy-and-what-we-can-do-about-it#:~:text=AI%2C%20particularly%20large%20language%20models,leading%20to%20high%20electricity%20consumption. [Accessed 27 April 2026]

5. Martina Di Licosa, Novo Nordisk’s New Weight Loss Shot Loses To Rival Eli Lilly In Clinical Trial—Stock Plummets (Feb 23 2026), Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/martinadilicosa/2026/02/23/novo-nordisks-new-weight-loss-shot-loses-to-rival-eli-lilly-in-clinical-trial-stock-plummets/ [Accessed 27 April 2026]

6. Vora N., Shah S., Patel, P., Shah M., (2025) “Artificial intelligence and multi-omics in drug discovery: A deep learning-powered revolution” Cure & Care, Volume 1 Issue 1. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S3051062725000112#:~:text=But%20it%20is%20crucial%20to,and%20cost%2Deffectively%20as%20possible. [Accessed 27 April 2026]

7. Elsa Ohlen, Novo Nordisk partners with OpenAI as AI drug discovery hopes mount. (April 14 2026) Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/14/novo-nordisk-openai-ai-drug-discovery-healthcare-nvo.html#:~:text=%22AI%20is%20reshaping%20industries%20and,shortly%20after%20the%20opening%20bell. [Accessed 27 April 2026]

8. Mike Wheatley, OpenAI partners with Novo Nordisk to accelerate drug discovery and delivery. (April 14 2026) Available at: https://siliconangle.com/2026/04/14/openai-partners-novo-nordisk-accelerate-drug-discovery-delivery/#:~:text=By%20using%20AI%20to%20speed,build%20and%20use%20custom%20tools. [Accessed 27 April 2026]