Novo Nordisk Foundation has provided significant financial support to the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, with an amount exceeding 800 million Danish kroner last year. According to a statement from the university, accessed by Altinget, every fifth employee at the faculty was either fully or partially financed by funds from the foundation in the same period. In total, 1050 individuals received financial support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation in 2023.
While some praise this massive support, it also raises criticism. Opponents argue that research areas may be skewed to primarily benefit the interests of the industry. Novo Nordisk Foundation is a business fund that owns about 28 percent of the shares in Novo Nordisk, a company that earns its money mainly from the treatment of diabetes and obesity.
Professor and chief physician Karsten Juhl Jørgensen from Cochrane Denmark is among those expressing concern. He specializes in research methods and medical research, pointing out that there may be a risk that important research is sidelined in favor of projects that align with the industry’s interests. “When so much brainpower is focused on researching things that the industry has an interest in, the resources may not be available to clarify other necessary questions that can improve patient care at home,” he says.
However, some do not see this as a problem. Søren Nedergaard, deputy director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, believes that private funding is positive and necessary to maintain a high level of research. Without this support, many research projects simply would not be possible, he claims.
The university itself does not share the concern. David Dreyer Lassen, vice chancellor for research at the University of Copenhagen, emphasizes that Novo Nordisk is a successful company with a surplus in the fund obligated to support research in Denmark. “That is exactly what they are doing,” he says.
This support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation plays a central role in the development of research at the Faculty of Health Sciences, but the debate on whether this support is problematic seems to continue.