It has the ring of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale—if a supremely ironic one. Tiny Denmark is home to six million of the world’s wealthiest and healthiest people—all those muesli-munching cyclists…. even their letter O sometimes comes slashed in half. But, Denmark is also home to what is suddenly Europe’s largest company—Novo Nordisk…. a pharmaceutical firm with a market cap of a half trillion dollars… thanks to products that…wait for it… combat obesity. Novo’s drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have slimmed down Hollywood stars and millions of non-celebrities worldwide—while adding great heft to Denmark’s economy. We travel to the Baltic to see how a country with a slender ego is coping with this most unlikely injection of fantastic wealth.
Just another Copenhagen commuter headed off to work in the morning… Lotte Bjerre Knudsen goes unnoticed… first on the train… then, pep in her step, walking from the station to the office she shares with …