ABSTRACT
Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company based near Copenhagen, serves a global population of 285 million people with diabetes, a number expected to double by 2030. According to the American Diabetes Association, in the United States, over 25 million people (8.3% of the population) have diabetes. e Centers for Disease Control reports that 1.9 million people were diagnosed with diabetes in the United States in 2010. By 2030, the number of diabetes patients worldwide is projected to exceed 400 million people. Diabetes is a chronic illness, and treatment options help patients control their blood sugar to prevent damage to the body’s systems. is damage can cause blindness, heart disease, kidney failure, or amputation. In the United States, the total economic burden of diabetes in 2007 was US $174 billion. For a population this large, even a small improvement in disease management can add up to a large improvement in patient quality of life and in the lifetime cost of care.
