Potential Links: Novo Nordisk x Hedera
Pharmaceutical Industry has generally lagged behind in blockchain adoption - primarily due to the regulatory hurdles, scalability issues, and the conservative nature of the industry. I have always wondered what would be the first big healthcare use-case on the Hedera network or which of the big pharma company would form part of the Governing Council one day. Novo Nordisk from Denmark would be an amazing choice imo.
About Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings which holds approximately 28% of its shares and a majority (77%) of its voting shares.
Novo Nordisk manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products and services, specifically diabetes care medications and devices. Novo Nordisk makes the drug semaglutide, used to treat diabetes under the brand names Ozempic and Rybelsus and obesity under the brand name Wegovy.
Filippo Frangioni is a product manager at Novo Nordisk and is also the Head of Partnerships at Nordic Blockchain Association.
Nordic Blockchain Association and The HBAR Foundation
- In mid-June of 2024, HBAR Foundation joined the Nordic Blockchain Association. Filippo Frangioni from Novo Nordisk commented on the announcement post.
- Jim Nasr (CEO of Acoer), who also leads the Privacy & Healthcare Fund at the HBAR Foundation attended the Blockchain, AI & Pharma: Building the Future of Healthcare event organized by Novo Nordisk in June. He specifically participated in the “Lessons learned from regulators on Blockchain adoption” fireside chat hosted by Novo Nordisk.
- Jim Nasr also gave a keynote speech titled Blockchain Innovations in Healthcare at the Nordic Blockchain Conference and participated in a panel titled Web3 in Medicine alongside Filippo.
In a podcast interview, Filippo Frangioni described some of the potential pharma use-cases and highlighted two major use cases:
- Clinical Trials
- Supply Chain Traceability and Transparency of Products
Co-incidentally Acoer has built Hedera-based solutions specifically addressing the above two use-cases. Per Filippo's LinkedIn profile, Novo Nordisk is currently building an "E-Labelling" solution - while I couldn't find more details about this product, it would be interesting to see if the solution uses a blockchain.
Additional Crumbs
Around the same June 2024 timeframe, Novo Nordisk's parent company Novo Holdings also invested a significant sum of money in AgNext, an agri-tech startup funded by The Hashgraph Association..
AgNext Technologies is an agritech company dedicated to revolutionizing food quality assessment along the agricultural value chain. Through its integrated platform for rapid, precise, and cost-effective portable food quality evaluations, AgNext is empowering stakeholders to make informed decisions that drive sustainability and efficiency within the agricultural ecosystem. Through the digitization of quality assessment, the company is setting standards to guarantee transparency in food transactions from the point of origin to the point of consumption.
As per the press release issued by Novo Holdings, this $8M funding will support the company’s efforts to further develop technologies for food quality assessments.