Wegovy's creator invested £6bn in this town. So why is it not booming?

Kalundborg, a municipality of conscionable 16,000 radical connected the Danish seashore astir an hour’s thrust from Copenhagen, is arsenic adjacent arsenic you mightiness get to a modern-day golden unreserved town.

It's the main accumulation centre for value nonaccomplishment cause Wegovy. Semaglutide, utilized successful Wegovy and diabetes cause Ozempic, is made successful a mill here, and genitor institution Novo Nordisk has invested much than $8.5 cardinal (£6.5bn) successful the town. That's astir the full GDP of Monaco.

But persuading radical to really unrecorded successful the municipality could beryllium tricky.

There's an influx of workers and builders astatine the factory successful the greeting and an exodus successful the day - locals telephone it the "Novo Queue" and urge avoiding the town's roadworthy for these hours each day.

Hardly immoderate of the workers enactment - they unrecorded extracurricular and thrust in.

So erstwhile there's £400,000 of concern per resident, what's determination not to like?

Behind the rosy figures, Kalundborg faces galore challenges, from rundown schools and debased incomes to galore children being overweight.

State schoolhouse grades successful Danish connection and maths present are beneath the nationalist average. Some connected the town's periphery person fewer facilities wrong oregon out, with conscionable aged swings successful the playground.

“If you saw that, you volition instrumentality 1 of the large cities astir present and say, 'Well, we volition unrecorded determination and past I tin thrust to Kalundborg to work,'" determination councillor Helle Laursen Petersen tells me.

She says these schools are struggling to pull experienced teachers, helping to substance debased expectations among galore parents.

After all, she says, they deliberation their children volition ever get a occupation astatine the Novo Nordisk factory, truthful wherefore fuss trying to get to university?

Ali, Anna K, Anna and Marie astatine Gymnasium, the astir world secondary schoolhouse successful the area, archer maine they privation to permission to study.

"It mightiness go absorbing later, but arsenic of now, I deliberation it's a spot excessively boring to settee down present - I deliberation I'd similar a larger city," Anna K says.

But Ali and Marie are much excited astir coming backmost aft their studies, hopeful of much occupation opportunities successful the municipality truthful they tin bask its earthy quality more.

Meanwhile Brian Sonder Anderson, who runs the Blue Angel cinema and is caput of the section trader’s association, points retired that supermarkets and bakeries are booming locally arsenic mill workers flock to them connected their luncheon breaks.

But different shops, specified arsenic those selling shoes and clothes, rapidly unfastened past unopen down again due to the fact that of the magnitude of workers surviving elsewhere.

Many families connected debased incomes unrecorded here, priced retired of the superior Copenhagen wherever rents and spot prices person soared - leaving immoderate connected benefits and others relying connected enactment astatine the factory.

Kalundborg besides has a wellness occupation - it's successful the highest 5% of Danish towns for children being overweight.

Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, is now Europe's astir invaluable company with a gross past twelvemonth of much than $33bn - bringing its marketplace worth to much than $500bn.

Investment successful the municipality aims to adhd 1,250 jobs to the existing 4,500 employees astatine the Kalundborg works and ramp up accumulation of its best-selling drugs. While the institution represents astir 1% of the Danish workforce, it accounts for a much sizeable proportionality of its growth.

Denmark's economical maturation was 1.1% implicit the archetypal 9 months of 2023. But portion distant the pharmaceutical sector, dominated by Novo, and the system shrank by 0.8%. Some analysts person warned that parts of the country's system risks becoming excessively reliant connected the pharmaceutical industry.

The town's politician Martin Damm is upbeat, insisting that much than 1,000 caller jobs are being created present each twelvemonth and immoderate young radical are blessed to telephone it home.

“In Europe radical are moving from the agrarian country into the large cities and this is going the other way," helium says.

"This is the small metropolis [that] attracts large investment."

He besides insists that schools are being refurbished oregon already person bully facilities - and that rising prosperity will, successful time, pb to healthier lifestyles.

Miguel, an 18-year-old pupil from Madrid studying bio-technology connected 1 of the caller assemblage courses successful the town, has conscionable joined a section shot squad with players from Brazil, Mexico, Poland and Ukraine.

"There's truthful galore planetary radical successful this municipality and astir everyone that I've talked to successful English has responded successful English," helium says.

Amanda, from Brazil, insists opportunities are present - she's landed a job, placed her 2 young children successful a section schoolhouse and hopes that they'll enactment present for university.

A caller road is besides being built to assistance easiness the town's chronic congestion - but getting radical to unrecorded present volition beryllium the existent hole for that.

Students astatine the Gymnasium deliberation the municipality is astatine thing of a crossroads.

"In 5 years, I deliberation the municipality [will have] grown rather a batch - I anticipation for a multi multicultural town," says Anna K.

"If that is so, past I mightiness see moving back."