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On April 10, 2014 an official ceremony dedicated to commissioning of a new Novo Nordisk plant was held in Grabtsevo industrial park, Kaluga. The innovative plant is to produce insulin, an important medicine for diabetes therapy. This is the first insulin plant greenfield project implemented in Russia.  The ceremony was attended by Anatoly Artamonov, Kaluga Region Governor,  Lars R. Sorensen, Novo Nordisk A/S President and CEO, Henrik Bendix Dahl, Novo Nordisk OOO Director General, Thomas Winkler, Danish Ambassador to Russia, and other officials.   

Novo Nordisk top priority in the Russian market is to increase the availability of modern pharmaceuticals to Russia patients.  The company invested about US$ 100 million in the project. The production facility employs 150 people and it is planned to increase this number in the years to come.  The plant is to produce the insulin solution, fill and pack Penfill® cartridges as well as Flexpen® pens and needles. The production facility’s capacity is sufficient to fully satisfy the demand for its products in the Russian market.  

Lars Rebien Sorensen, Novo Nordisk A/S President and CEO, said: “The construction of the new plant in Kaluga shall be viewed as a clear demonstration of Novo Nordisk long-term commitment to provide support to Russian people suffering diabetes. According to available research data some ten million people in Russia suffer from this disease. Our investments in the Russian plant ensure availability of high quality next generation insulin to Russian patients who have to take insulin every single day”.

Thomas Winkler, Danish Ambassador to Russia, pointed out that  the opening of Novo Nordisk production facility in Kaluga was a good symbol of successful cooperation between Russia and Denmark. He said: “Despite all political issues we can successfully cooperate and move further. This ceremony symbolizes the beginning of a new era in business relations between Kaluga Region and Denmark”.  

By launching the new project Novo Nordisk makes a significant contribution to implementation of Pharma 2020 Russian federal program.  Sergey Smirnov, Vice President, Novo Nordisk CIS, said: “The program cannot be implemented without establishment of unique hi-tech production facilities, without idea and technology transfer”.   

Novo Nordisk top managers expressed gratitude to Kaluga Region Government officials  for support provided at all stages of the large scale project. One of them said: “They know how to deal with business”.   

Kaluga Region features truly unique experience in development of its pharmaceutical cluster. Upon results of a contest held by the Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation in 2012, Kaluga Region pharmaceutical cluster was included in the list of 14 pilot territorial innovative clusters.  Experts believed that Kaluga Region managed to ensure a good balance between all key elements, namely, serial production of dosage forms, research and development of pharmaceutical substances and active molecules, training of specialists for the pharmaceutical cluster. Apart from that it had a formalized cluster management mechanism. This was the key advantage of Kaluga pharmaceutical cluster project.   

Anatoly Artamonov noted that Kaluga Region pharmaceutical cluster comprises over 50 companies. This includes both major anchor investors, like Novo Nordisk OOO, Hemopharm OOO, Niarmedik Plus OOO, Berlin Chemie ZAO, AstraZeneca Industries OOO, Sfera Pharm OOO, etc., and small and medium-sized innovative companies.