Novo Nordisk employees criticized for participation in Steno Diabetes Center meeting in Copenhagen

Several politicians are expressing serious concerns over the participation of Novo Nordisk employees in an internal morning meeting for doctors and nurses at the public Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. Critics, including Kirsten Normann Andersen, the health spokesperson for Socialist People’s Party (SF), have labeled it “completely unacceptable” for marketing and sales personnel to be present at hospitals discussing medical products. According to an internal document, three Novo Nordisk employees who focus on drug sales were allowed to provide information about new medications during the meeting.

Peder Hvelplund, health spokesperson for the Red-Green Alliance, sees this as evidence confirming his long-held suspicions regarding the Steno hospital, which is partially funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. He expressed frustration over the intertwined relationship, stating, “We do not want such overlaps in our healthcare system.”

When the Steno hospital transitioned from being a private facility owned by Novo Nordisk to a public hospital under the Capital Region in 2017, a key premise was its independence from Novo Nordisk’s financial interests. Recent revelations about Novo Nordisk handpicking a significant number of participants for a spring scientific conference have raised further questions about this independence.

Hvelplund plans to address these concerns with Interior and Health Minister Sophie Løhde, seeking assurance of complete independence for Steno Diabetes Center.

The issue has sparked widespread concern among professionals, with Karsten Juhl Jørgensen, a professor, stating that public institutions must not favor individual companies, which could lead to suspicions about the preferential treatment of Novo Nordisk’s products in medical practices. The hospital has since announced that no pharmaceutical company will be allowed to participate in internal meetings again.