Novo Nordisk opens new office in Ho Chi Minh City.

“Vietnam is becoming a key market for us. We will be here for the long-term and that is why we have decided to establish a wider presence. We will increase our diabetes-related activities here, which will also lead to increased investment over the next five- year period,” said Jesper Høiland, senior vice president, International Operations, Novo Nordisk.

Leading up to World Diabetes Day on November 14, the Vietnam Diabetes Care Programme (VDCP) was also launched in Hanoi yesterday. This week, Vietnam launched a national diabetes care programme to tackle some of the main challenges of diabetes in Vietnam such as the limited number of physicians trained in diabetes care, the large number of undiagnosed patients and the limited diabetes care infrastructure.

“The diabetes challenge in this country is enormous; more and more people are affected by the disease every day, many are undiagnosed and others do not receive the best treatment. We believe the national programme is an important starting point and that, together with our partners, we can be part of improving the situation for people with diabetes in Vietnam”, said Jay Thyagarajan, general manager, South-East Emerging Markets, Novo Nordisk.

The company has been present in the country since 1992 but so far only with a representative office. Novo Nordisk currently has 52 employees in Vietnam, this will go up to around 70 including the office in Ho Chi Minh City.

Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company with 89 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 33,300 employees in 75 countries, and markets its products in 190 countries.