Quantum Meets Medicine: Novo Nordisk and Denmark Back Global Flagship Quantum Venture Fund

TradingKey - As Novo Nordisk faces growing pressure in the U.S. weight-loss drug market, the Danish pharmaceutical giant is accelerating its push into a futuristic frontier: quantum computing for medicine. In a major move, it has partnered with the Danish government to invest in the world’s largest dedicated quantum technology venture fund, aiming to harness quantum power to accelerate drug discovery.

On Thursday, October 2, it was announced that Novo Holdings — the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk (NVO) — and Denmark’s Export and Investment Fund (EIFO) have committed €134 million (approx. $157 million) to the first close of a new €300 million (approx. $350 million) fund led by 55 North, a Copenhagen-based venture firm focused on deep tech and quantum innovation.

The investment is part of Denmark’s national strategy to advance quantum technology and establish the country as a global hub for quantum research. It also marks another milestone in Novo Nordisk’s expanding commitment to quantum-driven R&D.

A Strategic Push into Quantum Medicine

Novo Holdings, backed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, holds about 28% of Novo Nordisk’s capital and 77% of voting rights. With quantum computing now widely recognized as one of the most transformative technologies of the 21st century, Novo sees immense potential in applying it to pharmaceutical development.

Soren Moller, managing partner for seed investments at Novo Holdings, said that quantum computing already shows clear applications in pharma — from drug discovery to building quantum models of proteins and simulating their interactions with molecules.

Over the past year, Novo Holdings has invested around $200 million in quantum computing startups. In October 2024, Denmark launched a Nvidia-powered supercomputer — hailed as one of the most powerful in the world — which researchers from Novo Nordisk and other Danish biopharma firms are using to discover new drugs and design smarter clinical trials.

In July 2025, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and EIFO jointly established QuNorth, a Nordic quantum enterprise funded with €80 million, to support commercialization and talent development in the sector.

Moller added:

“When these technologies come to fruition, they could be transformative for some of the areas we care deeply about. Particularly life sciences, drug development and planetary health.”

Bridging Europe’s Quantum Gap

Despite strong public funding for quantum research across Europe, commercialization lags behind the U.S. and China. 55 North aims to close this gap by turning scientific breakthroughs into scalable industries.

The firm stated:

“It’s really reaching that tipping point of where we go from a science experiment to something which is starting to solve problems and show promise in the real world.”

Stock Reaction and Competitive Pressures

Ahead of Thursday’s U.S. market open, Novo Nordisk shares fell about 0.5%, continuing a tough year — down over 31% in 2025.

At the end of September, Morgan Stanley downgraded Novo Nordisk from Equal Weight to Underweight, slashing its price target from $53.20 to $42.00, citing persistent pricing pressures and intensifying competition in the obesity drug market.

Still, long-term investors may see the quantum bet as a strategic hedge — positioning Novo not just as a leader in metabolic drugs, but as a pioneer at the intersection of biology, AI, and next-generation computing.