Obesity, by and large, is not a problem in the land of the Little Mermaid and midcentury modern design. In Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen, bicycles outnumber cars five to one, people swim laps in Nyhavn Harbor well into September, and—despite a clear fondness for pastries, hot dogs, and alcoholic beverages—apparently few people put on weight. The country has one of the lowest obesity rates in Europe, though at 18.4% in 2021, it has risen considerably from 6.1% in 1987.
The rest of the world, too, is wrestling with rising obesity. In the United States, 42% of adults are considered obese, and nearly three-quarters qualify as obese or overweight. The World Obesity Federation predicts that 51% of the global population will be overweight or obese by 2035.
The solution to this epidemic may very well sit a 45-minute bike ride from downtown Copenhagen, at the corporate offices of the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk—now known to the world as the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy.
A light-filled cylinder designed by Henning Larsen, Novo Nordisk’s headquarters pays architectural tribute to the spiral coil of the insulin molecule—the company’s traditional source of revenue. Today, a better shape would be the sickle-shaped molecule of a peptide called semaglutide, which is used in a type of drug known as a GLP-1 agonist. These medications help regulate blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes and, by suppressing appetite, help users shed an average 15% of their body weight over 64 weeks, an amount comparable to gastric-bypass surgery.
